Review on the European Strategies for Energy-Efficient Buildings
Reduction of the energy consumption in the building stock is an essential part of the sustainability strategies of the European Union on economy, environment and Climate Change. Operation and use of the residential and tertiary sector buildings are responsible for roughly 40% of the total final energy consumed in its Member States. This demand is supplied mainly from the imported fossil fuels. Energy-efficiency of buildings has grown to one of the main mechanisms in pursuits to alter the negative trends of growing consumption that would lead to an increase of the import dependence and increase of greenhouse gas emissions. In recent years, the European policy has shown signs of success but the targets seem to have been set as too ambitious. A review on the energy-efficiency strategies is presented in this paper in order to propose an explanation for the delay. It has been identified as insufficient links between statistics on the energy supply and the energy demand in various parts of the existing building...
A low energy building in a life cycle - its embodied energy, energy need for operation and recycling potential
Total energy use during the life cycle of a building is a growing research field. The embodied energy makes up a considerable part of the total energy use in low energy buildings. Recycling provides the opportunity to reduce the embodied energy by using recycled materials and reusable recyclable materials/components. This paper presents values on embodied energy. energy needed for operation and the recycling potential of the most energy efficient apartment housing in Sweden (45 kWh/m(2)). In a life span of 50 years, embodied energy accounted for 45% of the total energy need. The recycling potential was between 35% and 40% of the embodied energy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Conservation of energy and natural resources by recycling building waste
Recycling of building waste can considerably reduce the need for energy and natural resources and reduce the amount of material to landfill. Knowledge of the size of the annual conservation potential is important. The purpose of this study was to assess the conservation of energy and natural resources and the amount of material to landfill by recycling building waste in Sweden. Two recycling scenarios were compared with the recycling rates applied in 1996. The scenarios were ‘maximum material recycling/combustion with energy recovery’ and ‘maximum reuse’. The results indicate considerable conservation of resources and a considerable growth potential. Possibilities, constraints and need for further studies are discussed. The results also indicate that the recycling aspects must be considered already in the design phase.