The effect of climate change on office building energy consumption in Japan

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The effect of climate change on office building energy consumption in Japan

Shibuya, T; Croxford, B; (2016) The effect of climate change on office building energy consumption in Japan. Energy and Buildings , 117 pp. 149-159. 10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.023. Green open access

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Abstract

Global climate change is making the mild Japanese climate significantly warmer, which is expected to have a substantial impact on building energy consumption. The potential impacts of climate change on the cooling and heating loads for offices are also investigated by means of thermal analysis simulations at three sites over three periods; 1981–2000, 2031–2050, and 2081–2100. This study reveals that under the IPCC’s A2 carbon emission scenario, substantial reductions of energy consumption are expected if the full measures reviewed here are implemented. These rates differ in each location and each period due to regional climate characteristics and climate change. CO2 emissions reduction targets will depend on future electricity conversion factors which could worsen due to revisions of the national energy plan triggered by the Fukushima nuclear accident. Japan still has a vast quantity of energy inefficient old offices (pre-1981). With more specific and up-to-date technologies than those reviewed here, even greater energy reductions could be completed. A brief economic analysis suggests that these measures could be competitive with nuclear power generation. Overall, office buildings in Japan have enormous potential to reduce energy requirements and related CO2 emissions without resorting to nuclear power generation.

Type:	Article
Title:	The effect of climate change on office building energy consumption in Japan
Open access status:	An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI:	10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.023
Publisher version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.02.023
Language:	English
Additional information:	© 2016. This manuscript version is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Non-derivative 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This licence allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for personal and non-commercial use providing author and publisher attribution is clearly stated. Further details about CC BY licences are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.
Keywords:	Climate change; Energy consumption; Cooling/heating loads; CO2 emissions reduction; Thermal analysis simulations; Nuclear power generation
UCL classification:	UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources
URI:	https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1476742