Sustainable energy end use from a systems perspective

Panel: Panel 1: The foundations of a future energy policy. Longer term strategies

Author:
Agneta Persson, WSP Environmental, Sweden

Abstract

What is most efficient from an integrated energy, environmental and cost perspective – measures in the individual building or in the supply system? Achieving the societal sustainable development goal requires a system’s perspective including both energy demand and supply. But how should efficiency measures best be prioritised, taken economical and other limitations into account? How can the best possible use of resources be reached from a system’s perspective?

Looking merely at delivered energy the Swedish building sector’s energy end use appears to have decreased during the past 30 years. However, energy losses that earlier appeared in the buildings’ individual heating systems have “moved” to energy transformation, and despite all energy-efficiency efforts the building sector’s primary energy consumption has increased. To increase focus on sustainable development, ten Swedish major building construction and energy companies have performed a joint study to identify cost and resource-efficient measures to reduce the building sector’s environmental impact. Resources have been calculated in primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

This paper will present the results from the in-depth analysis of primary energy consumption and CO2 emissions carried out in the project, with efficiency measures in the individual buildings, different energy supply systems and combinations of these. The analysis comprises new residential and office buildings, six different energy supply scenarios, a wide range of energy-efficiency measures, and costs based on a life cycle perspective. The study also included a sensitivity analysis of a number of studied parameters as well as a brief description of the project methodology.