IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v3y2011i8p1170-1189d13411.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Longitudinal Study on the Carbon Emissions of a New Residential Development

Author

Listed:
  • Jukka Heinonen

    (Aalto University School of Engineering/P.O. Box 11200, 00076 AALTO Finland)

  • Antti Säynäjoki

    (Aalto University School of Engineering/P.O. Box 11200, 00076 AALTO Finland)

  • Seppo Junnila

    (Aalto University School of Engineering/P.O. Box 11200, 00076 AALTO Finland)

Abstract

Buildings account for nearly 50% of all greenhouse gases globally. While this has been widely recognized, the GHG mitigation strategies have traditionally concentrated on reducing the use phase emissions, as over 90% of the emissions are generated during the use phase according to several studies. However, two current developments increase the importance of the construction phase emissions and the embodied emissions of the building materials. Firstly, the improvements in the energy efficiency of buildings directly increase the relative share of the construction phase emissions. Secondly, the notification of the temporal allocation of the emissions increases the importance of the carbon spike from construction. While these perspectives have been noted, few studies exist that combine the two perspectives of the construction and the use phase. In this paper, we analyze the implications of low-carbon residential construction on the life cycle emissions of a residential area with a case study. Furthermore, we demonstrate that when the temporal allocation of the emissions is taken into account, the construction phase emissions can hinder or even reverse the carbon mitigation effect of low-carbon buildings for decades.

Suggested Citation

  • Jukka Heinonen & Antti Säynäjoki & Seppo Junnila, 2011. "A Longitudinal Study on the Carbon Emissions of a New Residential Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(8), pages 1-20, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:8:p:1170-1189:d:13411
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/8/1170/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/3/8/1170/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glaeser, Edward L. & Kahn, Matthew E., 2010. "The greenness of cities: Carbon dioxide emissions and urban development," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 404-418, May.
    2. Yvan Dutil & Daniel Rousse & Guillermo Quesada, 2011. "Sustainable Buildings: An Ever Evolving Target," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Helias A. Udo de Haes & Reinout Heijungs & Sangwon Suh & Gjalt Huppes, 2004. "Three Strategies to Overcome the Limitations of Life‐Cycle Assessment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 8(3), pages 19-32, July.
    4. Weber, Christopher L. & Matthews, H. Scott, 2008. "Quantifying the global and distributional aspects of American household carbon footprint," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 379-391, June.
    5. Paul Joseph & Svetlana Tretsiakova-McNally, 2010. "Sustainable Non-Metallic Building Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-28, January.
    6. J. W. Owens, 1997. "Life‐Cycle Assessment: Constraints on Moving from Inventory to Impact Assessment," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 1(1), pages 37-49, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jukka Heinonen & Antti-Juhani Säynäjoki & Matti Kuronen & Seppo Junnila, 2012. "Are the Greenhouse Gas Implications of New Residential Developments Understood Wrongly?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(8), pages 1-20, August.
    2. Margherita Pillan & Fiammetta Costa & Valentina Caiola, 2023. "How Could People and Communities Contribute to the Energy Transition? Conceptual Maps to Inform, Orient, and Inspire Design Actions and Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-31, October.
    3. Riikka Kyrö & Jukka Heinonen & Antti Säynäjoki & Seppo Junnila, 2012. "Assessing the Potential of Climate Change Mitigation Actions in Three Different City Types in Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(7), pages 1-15, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jukka Heinonen & Seppo Junnila, 2011. "A Carbon Consumption Comparison of Rural and Urban Lifestyles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(8), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Yueyue Rong & Junsong Jia & Min Ju & Chundi Chen & Yangming Zhou & Yexi Zhong, 2021. "Multi-Perspective Analysis of Household Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Direct Energy Consumption by the Methods of Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index and σ Convergence in Central China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-28, August.
    3. Jukka Heinonen & Antti-Juhani Säynäjoki & Matti Kuronen & Seppo Junnila, 2012. "Are the Greenhouse Gas Implications of New Residential Developments Understood Wrongly?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 5(8), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Pu Lyu & Yongjie Lin & Yuanqing Wang, 2019. "The impacts of household features on commuting carbon emissions: a case study of Xi’an, China," Transportation, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 841-857, June.
    5. Moises Neil V. Seriño & Stephan Klasen, 2015. "Estimation and Determinants of the Philippines' Household Carbon Footprint," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 53(1), pages 44-62, March.
    6. Niu, Honglei & Lekse, William, 2017. "Carbon emission effect of urbanization at regional level: Empirical evidence from China," Economics Discussion Papers 2017-62, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Niu, Honglei & Lekse, William, 2018. "Carbon emission effect of urbanization at regional level: Empirical evidence from China," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 12, pages 1-31.
    8. Kramers, Anna & Wangel, Josefin & Johansson, Stefan & Höjer, Mattias & Finnveden, Göran & Brandt, Nils, 2013. "Towards a comprehensive system of methodological considerations for cities' climate targets," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 1276-1287.
    9. Age Poom & Rein Ahas, 2016. "How Does the Environmental Load of Household Consumption Depend on Residential Location?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-18, August.
    10. Ala-Mantila, Sanna & Heinonen, Jukka & Junnila, Seppo, 2014. "Relationship between urbanization, direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions, and expenditures: A multivariate analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 129-139.
    11. Jiansheng Qu & Tek Maraseni & Lina Liu & Zhiqiang Zhang & Talal Yusaf, 2015. "A Comparison of Household Carbon Emission Patterns of Urban and Rural China over the 17 Year Period (1995–2011)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-21, September.
    12. Underwood, Anthony & Fremstad, Anders, 2018. "Does sharing backfire? A decomposition of household and urban economies in CO2 emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 404-413.
    13. Sami Jarboui & Louafi Bouzouina & Hind Alofaysan, 2024. "Historical Insights into CO 2 Emission Dynamics in Urban Daily Mobility: A Case Study of Lyon’s Agglomeration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(22), pages 1-22, November.
    14. Eeva-Sofia Säynäjoki & Pia Korba & Elina Kalliala & Aino-Kaisa Nuotio, 2018. "GHG Emissions Reduction through Urban Planners’ Improved Control over Earthworks: A Case Study in Finland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-14, August.
    15. Sanna Ala-Mantila & Jukka Heinonen & Seppo Junnila, 2013. "Greenhouse Gas Implications of Urban Sprawl in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 5(10), pages 1-18, October.
    16. Chen, Zeyu & Tang, Yuhong & Shen, Hebin & Liu, Jiali & Hu, Zheng, 2024. "Threshold effects of Government digital development and land resource disparity on Urban carbon efficiency in China," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Thomas, Brinda A. & Azevedo, Inês L., 2013. "Estimating direct and indirect rebound effects for U.S. households with input–output analysis. Part 2: Simulation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 188-198.
    18. Matthew J. Holian & Matthew E. Kahn, 2014. "Household Demand for Low Carbon Public Policies: Evidence from California," NBER Working Papers 19965, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Proost, Stef & Van Dender, Kurt, 2012. "Energy and environment challenges in the transport sector," Economics of Transportation, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 77-87.
    20. Xinkuo Xu & Liyan Han, 2017. "Diverse Effects of Consumer Credit on Household Carbon Emissions at Quantiles: Evidence from Urban China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-25, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:3:y:2011:i:8:p:1170-1189:d:13411. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.