Carbon handprint – a review of potential climate benefits of buildings
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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2024
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Language
en
Pages
16
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BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, Volume 52, issue 6, pp. 708-723
Abstract
As buildings account for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions, the building sector is essential for pursuing carbon neutrality. Carbon footprints of buildings are currently emerging in the legislation of European countries. However, the concept of carbon neutrality calls for both reducing emissions and increasing carbon sinks and storages. The concept of ‘carbon handprint’ describes potential climate benefits that are related to a product, service, or an organization. Although an increasing body of scientific and professional literature exist on the concept, there are no standards for guiding its quantification in the context of buildings. Furthermore, examples demonstrating the potential of building related carbon handprints are still scarce. In this article, we examine and evaluate different climate benefits that can be utilized in life-cycle assessment of buildings. We test them through a case study of a wooden apartment building. Our results indicate that methodologically most mature handprints include carbon storage in bio-based products, carbonation of concrete, surplus energy, as well as reuse, recycling, and energy recovery. In our study, the relative size of the calculated handprints varies considerably between 39% and 87% of the building’s footprint. However, uncertainties and methodological development needs should be addressed in the standardization work.Description
Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Keywords
buildings, carbon footprint, carbon handprint, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), Life-cycle assessment (LCA), quantification
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Citation
Malabi Eberhardt, L C, Kuittinen, M, Häkkinen, T, Moinel, C, Nibel, S & Birgisdottir, H 2024, ' Carbon handprint – a review of potential climate benefits of buildings ', BUILDING RESEARCH AND INFORMATION, vol. 52, no. 6, pp. 708-723 . https://doi.org/10.1080/09613218.2023.2266020