Multi-Temporal Environmental Impacts of Energy Consumption in Net Zero Energy Buildings

Abstract

Electricity grid composition fluctuates over time, and even the building electricity consumption and on-site generation vary over seasons, months, days, and hour of the day. These items make necessary considering the temporal variation of the electricity supply and demand to assess energy and environmental impacts of buildings. However, currently the conventional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) practice in building sector does not account for high-resolution data on the energy systems sharing in an electricity grid. The most part of LCA studies still carry out static evaluation, with average data and outcomes. The research aims at providing a methodological framework to assess life-cycle impacts of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) arisen from the electricity consumption in the operation stage, using dynamic data of the grid composition and of the on-site renewable energy generation. Temporal variations put on evidence the role of the battery storage system both in reducing environmental impacts respect to the annual average mix, and in matching periods of peak demand and renewable generation.