• Energy Research

Challenging climate goals demand immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions for long-term temperature stabilization. Given the nearly linear relationship between warming and cumulative net emissions, the carbon budget approach is a useful tool to quantify remaining carbon allowances for countries, sectors, and even buildings. The built environment plays a crucial role in today’s carbon emissions and future reduction potentials. Although much progress has been achieved towards energy efficient buildings, less attention has been given to the impact of materials put in place. Furthermore, the construction sector lacks of quantified reduction efforts and time horizon limits to clearly define a climate neutrality pathway. This article proposes a definition of yearly targets until 2050 for the operational and embodied carbon of buildings in line with a global 1.5 °C carbon budget and the Swiss climate strategy. The proposed targets are then compared with the impact of current practices and future technical developments. Gaps between targets and practices are quantified and discussed to better understand the upcoming challenges of the Swiss construction sector. Energy and Buildings, 278 ISSN:0378-7788 ISSN:1872-6178

The building stock is responsible for 24% of carbon emissions in Switzerland and 44% of the final energy use. Considering that most of the existing stock will still be in place in 2050, it becomes essential to better understand this source of emissions. Although the Swiss Cantonal Energy Certificate for Buildings (CECB) database has been used in previous research, no comprehensive characterization of the buildings can be found. This data paper presents an analysis and classification of the Swiss building stock based on the data found in the database. The objective is to create a knowledge foundation that can be used in future research on the performance of existing buildings. Using a sample of almost 50,000 buildings and a Python script, datasheets were created for single-family houses and multi-family houses for nine construction periods. These archetypes are described through selected available energy-related parameters, such as energy reference area, U-values, and energy source with indicators such as median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile or distributions. The resulting data can be used for different purposes: (1) to calibrate energy models; (2) for analysis that requires scaling-up strategies to the whole stock; and (3) to identify weak and/or relevant classes of buildings throughout the stock.