Prospective Life Cycle Assessment: Effect of Electricity Decarbonization in Building Sector
Résumé
The building sector is responsible for 43% of France’s final energy consumption and is
strongly associated with a high environmental impact due to its high consumption of energy and
natural resources. These impacts are significant in isolated islands. Due to its geographical isolation
and an area of 2512 km2, Reunion Island has a heavily carbon-based economy with a high import rate
of raw materials for the building sector. This study aimed to investigate the effect of electricity mix
decarbonization on residential house environmental impact. The methodology consists of three parts:
(i) evaluating environmental impacts of Single-Family Houses (SFH) using life cyce assessment(LCA),
(ii) defining SFH typologies using the K-means clustering algorithm, and (iii) implementing energy
scenario in LCA of SFH to assess decarbonization effect. The environmental results were particularly
sensitive in the operational phase, with a decrease of 83% between 2020 to 2040 of the global warming
potential (GWP). The structural phase highlights the weight of imports in the building sector, as
a decrease of only 1% is observed. This study clearly shows the necessary energy transition for
Reunion Island. In the structural phase, the study recommends that stakeholders reduce imports and
increase the share of recovered materials to achieve a substantial reduction in impacts.
Origine | Publication financée par une institution |
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