Open AccessComparison of different measures for reducing the carbon footprint of the building sector – a rental house case study
Author(s) -
Riikka Holopainen,
R. Ahola,
K. Bergbom,
Hanne Vaarala
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/352/1/012020
Subject(s) - carbon footprint , apartment , renting , green building , footprint , environmental economics , greenhouse gas , business , architectural engineering , natural resource economics , engineering , civil engineering , economics , geography , ecology , biology , archaeology
This paper compares and estimates cost-optimal means to increase the potential of reducing the carbon footprint of future rental houses. As a case study we present a comparison between four rental apartment houses, where one house has achieved the Nordic Swan ecolabel. The carbon footprints of these buildings have been calculated for the building lifetime. According to the results, the effects of single measures are quite small in reducing the carbon footprint, but larger effects can be obtained by combining several measures together. It is essential to minimize the amount of used materials by paying attention to material efficiency under both design and construction phase. The paper also discusses the role of the voluntary ecolabelling of buildings as a tool to reduce the carbon footprint of the building sector.