Evaluating the environmental efficiency of passive climate change adaptation measures in the built environment: Exploring synergies between cooling energy reduction and environmental impact of passive climate adaptation retrofit measures in Gothenburg
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Industrial ecology (MPTSE), MSc
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Egerlid, Hedda
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
In an increasingly warming climate with higher frequencies of heat waves and extreme
heat, literature indicates that cooling will have increased relevance even in the Nordic
climate. To ensure thermal comfort during summers and limit the use of electricity for
air conditioning, climate adaptation in the form of passive cooling measures can be
implemented. This study aims at evaluating the environmental efficiency of passive
cooling measures that could be implemented in future renovations of the Swedish
building stock, to illustrate how interdisciplinary assessments could aid in greenhouse
gas emission reductions when considering climate change adaptation. A multi-family
residential building built in the 1970s is used as a case study and the assessed measures
include added insulation, improved glazing, added solar shading, improved solar
reflectivity of façade material, and natural ventilation. The measures were assessed on
their ability to reduce peak cooling demand, annual cooling demand, overheating hours
and maximum temperature during peak conditions using an hourly energy simulation
model, and the environmental impact of the measures was calculated based on material
use.
The study concludes that using natural ventilation is the most environmentally efficient
passive cooling measure due to the devoid of environmental impact. However, to
sustain thermal comfort in a future climate it could be beneficial to include
complementary passive measures. Changing to triple glazing is the second most
efficient in all aspects of thermal performance and has a similar environmental impact
to the other assessed measures, and the option is consequently the next recommended
measure, followed by the less environmentally efficient solar shading option. A
combination of all measures is associated with the greatest cooling reduction potential;
however, it poses a large trade-off in terms of environmental impact. The study
illustrates that the inclusion of environmental impact when assessing climate adaptation
measures is useful to provide guidance on GHG reduction when implementing climate
change adaptation measures.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
climate change adaptation , passive cooling , passive design , retrofitting , renovation , overheating , building energy performance