Be sustainable:
move to a low-energy apartment
Dr. Zsuzsa Szalay Vivienne Brophy
University College Dublin
SETAC Europe 17th LCA Case Study Symposium Sustainable Lifestyles
28 February – 1 March 2011
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Energy consumption and buildings
The building sector
- accounts for about 40% of the energy consumption in Europe
- has a great potential for cost-effective energy savings
By 2020 all new buildings shall be nearly-zero energy buildings !
(Recast of the European Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy performance of buildings)
Introduction
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Building standards in Ireland
Introduction
- 40 %
TGD 2008- 20 %
planned in 2011carbon neutral?
in the very near futureTGD 2005 (Building Regulation, Technical Guidance Document Part L: Conservation of Fuel and Energy)
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Building elements
~ 0.1-0.15 W/m2K
≤ 15 kWh/m2y
≤ 120 kWh/m2y Space
heating
Primary energy
Passivhaus standard
Passive houses
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‘Passive houses’
Key elements:
- very well insulated building envelope;
- thermal bridge free construction;
- high performing windows with well-insulated frames and glazing;
- high level of airtightness of the envelope;
- optimisation of solar and internal gains;
- and a whole-house
mechanical heat recovery ventilation.
Passive houses
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The whole life cycle
A complex environmental evaluation and optimisation should cover the whole life cycle of buildings and look at a range of different environmental impact categories
Introduction
Method of analysis
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Life Cycle Assessment
LCA framework
Goal and scope definition
Inventory analysis
Impact assessment
Inter- pretation
Direct applications:
- Product development and improvement
- Strategic planning - Public policy making - Marketing
- Other
Method of analysis
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Goal and scope definition
- To calculate the life cycle environmental impacts of buildings complying with the
current Irish regulations and the Passivhaus standard
- Six building types using a randomly generated building sample of 1,000 buildings per
category
- Functional unit: a residential building over a 60-year period in Ireland
Method of analysis
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Inventory analysis
Construction
Maintenance
Operation
Demolition and recycling
Inputs
ENERGY
WATER
MATERIALS
Outputs
WATER
SOLID WASTE
WASTE HEAT
NOISE
EMISSIONS
Method of analysis
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built-in attic unheated loft flat roof
unheated cellar slab-on-ground
Building categories
- Single-storey detached houses, - two-storey detached houses,
- two-storey semi-detached houses, - two-storey terraced houses,
- low-rise apartment buildings, - high-rise apartment buildings.
Method of analysis
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Geometric parameters
0.5 - 0.6 20 - 30
0 - 30 9-√AF
5-10 200 -
400
High-rise apartment buildings
0.5 - 0.6 20 - 30
0 - 30 8-√AF
3-4 150 –
400
Low-rise apartment buildings
0.4 - 0.5 20 - 30
25 - 60 5-√AF
2 40 - 60
Terraced, two storeys
0.4 - 0.5 20 - 30
15 - 35 6-√AF
2 50 - 80
Semi- detached, two storeys
0.4 - 0.5 20 - 30
6-√AF 0 2
60 - 140
Detached houses, two storeys
0.4 - 0.5 20 - 30
6-√AF 0 1
60 - 140
Detached houses, single storey
Density of part.
(m/m2) Window
ratio of floor area
% Ratio of
adjacent walls % Depth of
equiv.
rectangle (m) No of
store ys, n Net floor
area AF (m2)
Method of analysis
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Calculation method
Own tool developed for the environmental calculations
Operational energy use:
Validated by
– PhPP Passivhaus Planning Package
– DEAP - Dwelling Energy Assessment Procedure:
official methodology in Ireland Life cycle inventory data:
- ecoinvent database adapted to local conditions Impact assessment:
– Non-renewable cumulative energy demand (CED) Method of
analysis
Increasing thermal efficiency
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Semi-detached house, CED n.r. MJ/m
2y
Results
comfort increase
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
TGD 2005
TGD 2008
plus better orient.
plus better
ins.
PH PH+ PH++
Env constr+maint Other constr+maint Heating
Ventilation Hot water Lighting
Different building types
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Non-renewable cumulative energy demand (MJ/m
2y)
Results
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
D1st 2008 D2st 2008 SD2st 2008 Terr 2st 2008 Ap low 2008 Ap high 2008 D1st PH D2st PH SD2st PH Terr 2st PH Ap low PH Ap high PH
Envelope constr+maint Other constr+maint Heating
Ventilation Hot water Lighting
2008 buildings passive houses
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Cooling surface to heated volume ratio
Results
S/V = 6 / 1 = 6 S/V = 24 / 8 = 3
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Cooling surface to heated volume ratio
Results
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Insulation requirements for passive houses in Ireland
Average thermal transmittance (U) of the opaque structures to meet the space heating requirement of the Passivhaus standard:
– single-storey detached: around 0.11 W/m2K
– two-storey detached and terrace houses: 0.15 W/m2K – semi-detached houses: 0.19 W/m2K
– apartment buildings: 0.21 W/m2K and triple glazed windows or 0.16 W/m2K and efficient double windows
Results
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Non-renewable cumulative energy demand
Results
(%)
renewables
materials with a low
embodied impact
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
D1st 2008 D2st 2008 SD2st 2008 Terr 2st 2008 Ap low 2008 Ap high 2008 D1st PH D2st PH SD2st PH Terr 2st PH Ap low PH Ap high PH
Envelope constr+maint Other constr+maint Heating
Ventilation Hot water Lighting
2008 buildings passive houses
In the future?
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Building elements
0.1-0.15 W/m2K
15 kWh/m2a
120 kWh/m2a Space
heating
Primary energy
Passivhaus standard?
Legislation
Life cycle energy
Life cycle zero energy houses?
How to convert embodied energy into operational?
Thank you for your attention!
zsuzsa.szalay@yahoo.com
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The Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology and the support of the LoRe-LCA FP7 project are gratefully acknowledged.