Energy use in buildings in a long-term perspective

Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana; Petrichenko, Ksenia; Staniec, Maja; Eom, Jiyong

doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2013.05.004

Cited by 125 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Building codes are also addressed by Wachsmuth and Duscha (2018), who demonstrate plausible national emission reductions based on the assumption that both new buildings and retrofits meet the highest available thermal-efficiency standards. Consistent with the available literature (Lucon et al 2014;Seto et al 2016;Ürge-Vorsatz et al 2013), the authors argue that stricter building codes in the near term are a necessary condition to avoid carbon lock-in in the sector. This, in turn, is consistent with Kuramochi et al (2018) who identify various key benchmarks to limit warming to 1.5°C, including: higher renovation rates (5% in 2020) and all new builds to be fossil-free and near-zero energy in 2020.…”

Section: Building Codessupporting

confidence: 77%

Demand-side approaches for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

Mundaca

Ürge-Vorsatz²,

Wilson

2018

Energy Efficiency

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The Paris Climate Agreement defined an ambition of limiting global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels. This has triggered research on stringent emission reduction targets and corresponding mitigation pathways across energy economy and societal systems. Driven by methodological considerations, supply side and carbon dioxide removal options feature prominently in the emerging pathway literature, while much less attention has been given to the role of demand-side approaches. This special issue addresses this gap, and aims to broaden and strengthen the knowledge base in this key research and policy area. This editorial paper synthesizes the special issue's contributions horizontally through three shared themes we identify: policy interventions, demand-side measures, and methodological approaches. The review of articles is supplemented by insights from other relevant literature. Overall, our paper underlines that stringent demand-side policy portfolios are required to drive the pace and direction of deep decarbonization pathways and keep the 1.5°C target within reach. It confirms that insufficient attention has been paid to demand-side measures, which are found to be inextricably linked to supply-side decarbonization and able to complement supply-side measures. The paper also shows that there is an abundance of demand-side measures to limit warming to 1.5°C, but it warns that not all of these options are Bseen^or captured by current quantitative tools or progress indicators, and some remain insufficiently represented in the current policy discourse. Based on the set of papers presented in the special issue, we conclude that demand-side mitigation in line with the 1.5°C goal is possible; however, it remains enormously challenging and dependent on both innovative technologies and policies, and behavioral change. Limiting warming to 1.5°C requires, more than ever, a plurality of methods and integrated behavioral and technology approaches to better support policymaking and resulting policy interventions.

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Section: Building Codessupporting

confidence: 77%

Demand-side approaches for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

Mundaca

Ürge-Vorsatz²,

Wilson

2018

Energy Efficiency

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“…First, the required changes for deeper energy performance improvements at a later stage might be physically very difficult to achieve (for example when a specific type of fossil fuel-based heating system is installed). Also, whilst it may be physically possible to upgrade, the costs of doing so may render it uneconomic [33]. Furthermore, those responsible for making decisions about energy efficiency improvements may be hesitant to accept another phase of disruption after already having had relatively simple and low-cost technologies installed.…”

Section: The Need For Comprehensive Energy Efficiency Instrument Mixementioning

confidence: 99%

The need for comprehensive and well targeted instrument mixes to stimulate energy transitions: The case of energy efficiency policy

Rosenow

Kern

Rogge

2017

Energy Research & Social Science

147

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A B S T R A C TTo meet global climate goals an energy transition is needed. However, energy transitions are complex and longterm processes and require a variety of public policy interventions to steer their direction and speed to achieve global climate change mitigation targets. One area where policy support is required is energy efficiency, which offers a high potential for carbon savings. It is widely acknowledged that energy efficiency improvements will need to be faster and deeper than is currently the case and this requires policy instrument mixes to support both those energy efficiency measures that are simple and cost-effective as well as more complex and costly technologies. In other words, policy mixes need to be well-targeted and comprehensive. In this paper, we address the issue of comprehensiveness in terms of technology-specificity and the level of complexity and costliness of energy efficiency measures. We use an existing dataset produced as part of a pan-European effort to understand instrument mixes in 14 EU Member States in the area of energy efficiency. Based on the empirical analysis and our segmentation of instrument types and their role in the overall mix, we illustrate the need for using a comprehensive instrument mix rather than single instruments.

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“…Heating loads can be reduced by an improved thermal insulation of houses, and the remaining heat demand can be serviced by renewable and energy-efficient technologies. Through their integrated application, building energy use can be reduced by up to 90% compared to conventional buildings (Urge-Vorsatz et al, 2013;Ürge-Vorsatz et al, 2012a). Given that 50% of the current building stock will still be in use by 2050 (75% in OECD countries) (IEA, 2013b), levels of building efficiency in the next decades strongly depend on building shell retrofits of existing houses (Ürge-Vorsatz et al, 2015b(Ürge-Vorsatz et al, , 2012b.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating the deep decarbonisation of residential heating for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

et al. 2018

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Whole-economy scenarios for limiting global warming to 1.5°C suggest that direct carbon emissions in the buildings sector should decrease to almost zero by 2050, but leave unanswered the question how this could be achieved by real-world policies. We simulate which policy measures could induce an almost complete decarbonisation of residential heating, the by far largest source of direct emissions in residential buildings. Under which assumptions is it possible, and how long would it take? We use the non-equilibrium bottom-up model FTT:Heat to simulate policies for a transition towards low-carbon heating in a context of inertia and bounded rationality, focusing on the uptake of heating systems. Our results indicate that the near-zero decarbonisation is achievable by 2050, but requires substantial policy efforts. We find that policy mixes are more effective for incentivising the uptake of fuelefficient low-carbon technologies, compared to a residential carbon tax as the only policy. In combination with subsidies and procurement policies for renewables, near-complete decarbonisation could be achieved with a tax of 50-200 €/tCO 2. Without being complimented by additional policies, carbon taxes show a decreasing marginal impact on total emission reductions, thus remaining insufficient for deep decarbonisation. In all scenarios, the decarbonisation of heating would increase projected heating costs faced by households initially, but could lead to cost reductions in most world regions in the medium term. We show that the potential impacts of policies highly depend on behavioural decisionmaking by households, especially in a context of deep decarbonisation and rapid transformation.

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Energy use in buildings in a long-term perspective

Cited by 125 publications

References 38 publications

Demand-side approaches for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

Demand-side approaches for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

The need for comprehensive and well targeted instrument mixes to stimulate energy transitions: The case of energy efficiency policy

Simulating the deep decarbonisation of residential heating for limiting global warming to 1.5 °C

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