Energy transition of peri-urban areas
© EPFL/LAST
In an article published in the internatioanl journal "Energy and Buildings", the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) presents the first results of the ongoing research project LIVING PERIPHERIES supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The article highlights in particular the issues related to the energy transition of peri-urban dwellings. Through the assessment of several theoretical scenarios, it highlights the quantitative extent of the challenge that the latter represents, especially regarding the energy consumption owing to mobility.
This paper investigates the theoretical capacity of the Swiss peri-urban dwelling stock to meet energy efficiency requirements through incremental scenarios. The notion of “typical dwelling” allows the assessment of housing energy efficiency at the country scale. The “2000-Watt society” concept and federal policies provide the assessment framework of the daily-mobility and housing operational energy demand along with embodied energies of the dwelling stock. The typical dwellings’ current performance for several territorial entities highlight the extent of the challenge the peri-urban housing stock is facing today.
Therefore, the paper investigates which conditions would allow the peri-urban typical dwelling to meet “2000-W society” intermediary targets. Eight incremental scenarios present theoretical improvements of mobility and housing. They assume an evolution of social practices and individual behaviors, as well as the development of improved technologies. Results show a drastic reduction of primary non-renewable energy (PNRE) demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for both mobility and dwelling-related consumption.
The main findings are that the current MINERGIE-A label is sufficient to build energy efficient buildings, but the current mobility practices remain very far from targets. An optimization of trips and a broader recourse to low carbon conveyances are required to reduce the overall environmental footprint.
Judith Drouilles, Sophie Lufkin, Emmanuel Rey, "Energy transition potential in peri-urban dwellings: Assessment of theoretical scenarios in the Swiss context". Energy and Buildings, vol. 148, p. 379-390, 2017.