Effect of Climate Change and Occupant Behaviour on the Environmental Impact of the Heating and Cooling Systems of a Real Apartment. A Parametric Study through Life Cycle Assessment

Gianmarco Fajilla, Emiliano Borri, Marilena De Simone, Luisa F. Cabeza and Luís Bragança
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Gianmarco Fajilla: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Emiliano Borri: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Marilena De Simone: Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, Italy
Luisa F. Cabeza: GREiA Research Group, Universitat de Lleida, 25001 Lleida, Spain
Luís Bragança: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minho, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: Climate change has a strong influence on the energy consumption of buildings, affecting both the heating and cooling demand in the actual and future scenario. In this paper, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the influence of both the occupant behaviour and the climate change on the environmental impact of the heating and cooling systems of an apartment located in southern Italy. The analysis was conducted using IPCC GWP and ReCiPe indicators as well as the Ecoinvent database. The influence of occupant behaviour was included in the analysis considering different usage profiles during the operational phase, while the effect of climate change was considered by varying the weather file every thirty years. The adoption of the real usage profiles showed that the impact of the systems was highly influenced by the occupant behaviour. In particular, the environmental impact of the heating system appeared more influenced by the operation hours, while that of the cooling system was more affected by the natural ventilation schedules. Furthermore, the influence of climate change demonstrated that more attention has to be dedicated to the cooling demand that in the future years will play an ever-greater role in the energy consumption of buildings.

Keywords: life cycle assessment (LCA); ReCiPe indicator; global warming potential (GWP) indicator; environmental impact; heating and cooling systems; occupant behaviour; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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