Jakob Napiontek , Tomer Fishman , Peter-Paul Pichler , John Heintz , Helga Weisz
{"title":"live (a) little: GHG emissions from residential building materials for all 400 counties and cities of Germany until 2050","authors":"Jakob Napiontek , Tomer Fishman , Peter-Paul Pichler , John Heintz , Helga Weisz","doi":"10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.108117","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Germany is trying to solve the housing crisis in many of its cities with new construction. At the same time it is trying to meet its greenhouse gas emissions commitments under the Paris Agreement. This study examines how measures to tackle the housing crisis affect the climate crisis by looking at whether material emissions from the construction sector are in line with Germany’s decarbonization targets. We project material demand and associated emissions from 2024 to 2050 using dynamic material flow analysis of a novel high-resolution building stock model based on synthetic population microdata. The model incorporates technological improvements in building design and material efficiency, finding that these fall short of carbon neutrality targets in 2045 and beyond. A reduction in per capita floor area is required to meet the targets. The high spatial resolution of this study allows the identification of reduction hotspots within Germany’s 400 cities and counties, emphasizing the need for location-specific policy for national goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":21153,"journal":{"name":"Resources Conservation and Recycling","volume":"215 ","pages":"Article 108117"},"PeriodicalIF":11.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Resources Conservation and Recycling","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344924007079","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Germany is trying to solve the housing crisis in many of its cities with new construction. At the same time it is trying to meet its greenhouse gas emissions commitments under the Paris Agreement. This study examines how measures to tackle the housing crisis affect the climate crisis by looking at whether material emissions from the construction sector are in line with Germany’s decarbonization targets. We project material demand and associated emissions from 2024 to 2050 using dynamic material flow analysis of a novel high-resolution building stock model based on synthetic population microdata. The model incorporates technological improvements in building design and material efficiency, finding that these fall short of carbon neutrality targets in 2045 and beyond. A reduction in per capita floor area is required to meet the targets. The high spatial resolution of this study allows the identification of reduction hotspots within Germany’s 400 cities and counties, emphasizing the need for location-specific policy for national goals.
期刊介绍:
The journal Resources, Conservation & Recycling welcomes contributions from research, which consider sustainable management and conservation of resources. The journal prioritizes understanding the transformation processes crucial for transitioning toward more sustainable production and consumption systems. It highlights technological, economic, institutional, and policy aspects related to specific resource management practices such as conservation, recycling, and resource substitution, as well as broader strategies like improving resource productivity and restructuring production and consumption patterns.
Contributions may address regional, national, or international scales and can range from individual resources or technologies to entire sectors or systems. Authors are encouraged to explore scientific and methodological issues alongside practical, environmental, and economic implications. However, manuscripts focusing solely on laboratory experiments without discussing their broader implications will not be considered for publication in the journal.