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Operational energy in the life cycle of residential dwellings: The experience of Spain and Colombia

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  • Ortiz, Oscar
  • Castells, Francesc
  • Sonnemann, Guido

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been applied within the residential building sector of two buildings, one in each a developed (Spain) and a developing (Colombia) country. The main goal of this paper involves the environmental loads and also brings together the operational energy for activities during the operation phase such as HVAC, domestic hot water, electrical appliances, cooking and illumination. The present research compares two real scenarios: Situation 1, where 100% of the dwelling's energy is supplied with electricity only and Situation 2, where dwellings can be operated with natural gas plus electricity. The results for the environmental impacts using natural gas plus electricity show that of the Spanish environmental impacts air conditioning had the highest impact with approximately 27-42% due to the electricity used to power it. In Colombian results showed that electrical appliances had the highest environmental impacts in the same order of magnitude with approximately 60% and cooking had the best reduction of emissions due to the use of natural gas, from 10% down to less than 2%. The origin of the energy source used in each Country plays an important role to minimize environmental impacts, as was demonstrated by the environmental impacts of its use in Colombia where 78% of the electricity came from hydroelectric plants whereas in Spain it is more mixed, fossil fuels represented 55%, nuclear 18% and wind 9%. In summary, LCA has been applied because this methodology supports the decision making to concern environmental sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Ortiz, Oscar & Castells, Francesc & Sonnemann, Guido, 2010. "Operational energy in the life cycle of residential dwellings: The experience of Spain and Colombia," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 673-680, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:87:y:2010:i:2:p:673-680
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yvan Dutil & Daniel Rousse & Guillermo Quesada, 2011. "Sustainable Buildings: An Ever Evolving Target," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-22, February.
    2. Chau, C.K. & Leung, T.M. & Ng, W.Y., 2015. "A review on Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Energy Assessment and Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Assessment on buildings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 395-413.
    3. Fenner, Andriel Evandro & Kibert, Charles Joseph & Woo, Junghoon & Morque, Shirley & Razkenari, Mohamad & Hakim, Hamed & Lu, Xiaoshu, 2018. "The carbon footprint of buildings: A review of methodologies and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 1142-1152.
    4. Yang, Tian-Jian & Zhang, Yue-Jun & Tang, Su & Zhang, Jing, 2016. "How to assess and manage energy performance of numerous telecommunication base stations: Evidence in China," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 436-445.
    5. Zhang, Xinxin & Kobayashi, Noriyuki & He, Maogang & Wang, Jingfu, 2016. "An organic group contribution approach to radiative efficiency estimation of organic working fluid," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1205-1210.
    6. Hong, Taehoon & Koo, Choongwan & Lee, Sungug, 2014. "Benchmarks as a tool for free allocation through comparison with similar projects: Focused on multi-family housing complex," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 663-675.
    7. Oscar O. Ortíz-Rodríguez & William Ocampo-Duque & Laura I. Duque-Salazar, 2017. "Environmental Impact of End-of-Life Tires: Life Cycle Assessment Comparison of Three Scenarios from a Case Study in Valle Del Cauca, Colombia," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-13, December.

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