Environmental impact of building-related and user-related energy consumption in dwellings

Energy consumption in dwellings contributes significantly to their total negative environmental impact. This paper quantitatively assesses the environmental impact of building-related and user-related gas and electricity consumption in a Dutch apartment dwelling using life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Several scenarios for gas and electricity consumption are compared to assess what effect changes in building characteristics and user behaviour have on the environmental impacts of energy consumption. This study shows that gas consumption significantly contributes to four environmental impact categories, which can be most effectively countered by reducing the heat demand of the dwelling. A 23% reduction in gas consumption leads to up to 13% less overall environmental impacts. Particularly in buildings with low heat demand, electricity consumption dominates all environmental impact categories. These can most effectively be reduced by changing the electricity demand of the user: 47% less electricity consumption leads to a 9–45% reduction in the total environmental impact. However, since electricity consumption continues to rise, the environmental effects of electricity use may be better reduced by changing the environmental impact of the electricity supply. Theoretically, when electricity consumption remains the same, over 90% less environmental impact could be reached by using 100% wind power to generate electricity.