Towards the EU Emission Targets of 2050: Cost-Effective Emission Reduction in Finnish Detached Houses

Janne Hirvonen, Juha Jokisalo, Juhani Heljo and Risto Kosonen
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Janne Hirvonen: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Aalto, Finland
Juha Jokisalo: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Aalto, Finland
Juhani Heljo: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland
Risto Kosonen: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aalto University, 00076 Aalto, Finland

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-29

Abstract: To mitigate the effects of climate change, the European Union calls for major carbon emission reductions in the building sector through a deep renovation of the existing building stock. This study examines the cost-effective energy retrofit measures in Finnish detached houses. The Finnish detached house building stock was divided into four age classes according to the building code in effect at the time of their construction. Multi-objective optimization with a genetic algorithm was used to minimize the life cycle cost and CO 2 emissions in each building type for five different main heating systems (district heating, wood/oil boiler, direct electric heating, and ground-source heat pump) by improving the building envelope and systems. Cost-effective emission reductions were possible with all heating systems, but especially with ground-source heat pumps. Replacing oil boilers with ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs), emissions could be reduced by 79% to 92% across all the studied detached houses and investment levels. With all the other heating systems, emission reductions of 20% to 75% were possible. The most cost-effective individual renovation measures were the installation of air-to-air heat pumps for auxiliary heating and improving the thermal insulation of external walls.

Keywords: deep renovation; energy retrofit; detached house; multi-objective optimization; greenhouse gas emissions; heat pump; genetic algorithm (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: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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