Life cycle assessment of a residential building in China accounting for spatial and temporal variations of electricity production. (15th July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pei, Long; Schalbart, Patrick; Peuportier, Bruno
• Is Part Of: Journal of building engineering. Volume 52(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07-15
• Subjects: Life cycle assessment -- Electricity production mix -- Future scenarios -- Environmental impacts -- Residential buildings; ach Air change per hour -- BJ Beijing -- C Cold climate zone -- CED Cumulative energy demand -- COP Coefficient of performance -- DBES Dynamic building energy simulation -- DHW Domestic hot water -- ELC Enhanced low-carbon scenario -- ERI Energy research institute -- ES Energy-saving scenario -- GCHP Ground coupled heat pump -- GD Guangdong -- GHG Greenhouse gases -- GWP Global warming potential -- HRE High renewable energy penetration scenario -- HSCW Hot summer and cold winter -- HSWW Hot summer and warm winter -- HU Hubei -- ILCD International Reference Life Cycle Data System -- IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- LC Low-carbon scenario -- LCA Life cycle assessment -- LCI Life cycle inventory -- LCIA Life cycle impact assessment -- M Mild -- NDRCC National Development and the Reform Commission of China -- NM Inner Mongolia -- SC Severe cold climate zone -- YN Yunnan; Building -- Periodicals; 690.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104461
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-7102

Abstract

Abstract: Life cycle assessment (LCA) is widely used to reduce a building's environmental impacts in the design phase. Buildings consume a lot of electricity, and heat pumps are often proposed as a way to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. The electricity production mix is therefore an important aspect in building's LCA. Many studies use a static national average mix, ignoring its variations in space and time. This might be questioned in a large country undergoing energy transition such as China. A comprehensive study on this topic for China is lacking, therefore this article aims at filling this gap by investigating how the variations of the energy mix at spatial (five regions in five climate zones) and temporal (four future energy mix scenarios) scales influence the LCA results. A model is proposed to evaluate local future energy mixes. The life cycle inventory (LCI) database was contextualised considering different local energy mixes. Environmental impacts calculated using the local energy mixes and the national average energy mix were compared in the static approach and the dynamic approach (future scenarios are considered) for a residential building. The results indicated that using a national average mix instead of a local mix in the static approach brought non-negligible differences for most provinces, e.g. the overestimation of global warming potential (GWP) reached 500% in Yunnan. Similarly, differences between the static and dynamic approaches are large for most environmental impact indicators, e.g. the difference in GWP could reach around 900% in Guangdong. The differences highly depend on the prospective future scenarios and showed regional features. This paper highlights the importance of the choice of energy mix in buildings' LCA in China regarding both spatial and temporal scales, which is beneficial for more reasonable decisions. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: A model evaluating future energy mix at the regional scale in China is proposed. LCI database was contextualised for five provinces and China. The LCA results of a building were compared considering different mixes. The importance of local and dynamic energy mix in building LCA was shown. The difference in CO2eq could reach 900% when using a static mix in Guangdong.