Authors
Geiselmann, Dietmar; Braune, Anna; Kreißig, Johannes; Quante, Kathrin
Abstract
But regarded from a responsibility perspective, the use of buildings also generates (depending on the building type) a large amount of non-regulated operational GHG emissions, that are usually not covered by building assessments. Climate action measures, aiming at reducing the energy demand and on generating energy supply, e.g. at the building site, require the full picture and the complete energy balance to identify the most eco-efficient investments. Additionally, the GHG emissions of the climate action measures, e.g. additional insulation, on-site energy supply, energy efficient windows and doors, need to be taken into account to avoid misallocation of investments for climate action: In Germany, around 7 % of all national GHG emissions are generated during the production of building materials, the transportation and the installation on construction sites (BBSR, 2020). The German Sustainable Building Council has developed an instrument that allows the lifecycle management of all GHG emissions, related to the operational use and management, and the improvement of existing buildings (DGNB, 2020). This instrument, the “Building-specific Climate Action Roadmap” aims at accounting for all operational emissions and all additional lifecycle-related emissions from improvement measures (the often called “embodied emissions”). For the accounting scope “operation” this instrument defines the maximum allowable amount of GHG emissions per building, the remaining “carbon budget” as the integral of a linear function from todays’ emissions until 2050 latest. Including all improvement measures in the accounting scope “operation and construction” the remaining “carbon budget” is determined by the cumulated avoided emissions. The developed “Climate Action Roadmap” is a practical and proven lifecycle-based instrument, that helps planners to identify the most effective measures to get to net-zero GHG emissions.