The climate and health benefits from intensive building energy efficiency improvements

Abstract

Intensive building energy efficiency improvements can reduce emissions from energy use, improving outdoor air quality and human health, but may also affect ventilation and indoor air quality. This study examines the effects of highly ambitious, yet feasible, building energy efficiency upgrades in the United States. Our energy efficiency scenarios, derived from the literature, lead to a 6 to 11% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and 18 to 25% reductions in particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) emissions in 2050. These reductions are complementary with a carbon pricing policy on electricity. However, our results also point to the importance of mitigating indoor PM 2.5 emissions, improving PM 2.5 filtration, and evaluating ventilation-related policies. Even with no further ventilation improvements, we estimate that intensive energy efficiency scenarios could prevent 1800 to 3600 premature deaths per year across the United States in 2050. With further investments in indoor air quality, this can rise to 2900 to 5100.

Global Radiative Sky Cooling Potential Adjusted for Population Density and Cooling Demand

“…If used as cool roofs on large scales in urban areas, in addition to bringing energy saving in buildings [18,76], radiative sky cooling can drastically reduce solar irradiance into the urban environment and decrease its temperature [41,77]. When radiative cooling technologies improve building energy efficiency, it can lead to other climate and health benefits such as reductions in carbon emissions and PM2.5 emissions [78][79][80]. If used in thermal power plants as primary or supplemental cooling systems, radiative sky cooling can save water and maintain plant efficiency [21,25].…”

High resolution synthetic residential energy use profiles for the United States

“…In the face of these challenges, achieving sustainable energy goals has become paramount for maintaining a healthy grid. To this end, the research community is faced with important questions regarding reduction of carbon footprints [7][8][9][10][11] , incentivizing DER adoption 12 , studying benefits of building energy retrofit 9,13,14 , integration of electric vehicles 15 and consumer behavior 16 in the grid, and mechanisms for designing electricity pricing 17,18 to create efficient residential consumption patterns. Answering many of these questions requires comprehensive knowledge of energy-use patterns, building stock, the structure of distribution networks, consumer behaviors, and so on.…”

Socio-economic impacts of large-scale deep energy retrofits in Finnish apartment buildings

“…Reduced unemployment could stimulate further indirect economic benefits. In the United States, intensive building energy retrofitting could reduce national CO 2 emissions by 4-11%, while also reducing SO 2 and PM 2.5 emissions, helping to avoid 3700 to 7800 premature deaths per year by 2050 (Gillingham et al, 2021).…”