Concrete vs. wood in buildings - An energy system approach
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2012

Substitution between energy and CO2 intensive materials is a potentially important climate mitigation strategy. We compare buildings with concrete frames and wooden frames concerning their life-time carbon dioxide emissions as well as their total material, energy and carbon dioxide costs. By using consistent energy systems scenarios meeting stringent targets for atmospheric CO2 concentrations we investigate the impact of higher energy and carbon dioxide prices as well as of the availability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. We find that wooden frames cause lower carbon dioxide emissions given the prevailing energy system, but concrete frames obtain about the same emissions as the wood frame in a system where CCS is not used for wood incineration in the demolishing phase. The net present costs for the different buildings are also affected by the future energy supply system, even though the impact is small, especially compared to the total construction cost. We conclude that it is unclear whether wood framed buildings will be a cost-effective carbon mitigation option and that further analyses of costs should be performed before prescriptive materials policies are enforced in the buildings sector.

emissions

CO2

balances

costs

construction

Materials substitution

Building materials

transport

Carbon capture and storage

greenhouse-gas

life-cycle

Climate policy

Författare

Jonas Nässén

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Fysisk resursteori

Fredrik Hedenus

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Fysisk resursteori

Sten Karlsson

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Fysisk resursteori

John Holmberg

Chalmers, Energi och miljö, Fysisk resursteori

Building and Environment

0360-1323 (ISSN)

Vol. 51 361-369

Ämneskategorier

Annan naturresursteknik

DOI

10.1016/j.buildenv.2011.11.011

Mer information

Skapat

2017-10-07