Evaluating the life cycle energy benefits of energy efficiency regulations for buildings

Abstract

Energy efficiency regulations for buildings often focus solely on operational and thermal energy demands. Increasing a building's thermal energy efficiency is most often undertaken by increasing insulation thickness and installing high performance windows. These measures can result in a significant increase in embodied energy which is currently not considered in the majority of existing building energy regulations. This study uses a case study house in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia to investigate the life cycle primary energy repercussions of increasing building energy efficiency levels over 50 years. It uses the comprehensive hybrid approach and a dynamic software tool to quantify embod..