Evaluation of Life Cycle Carbon Emission Under Energy Flexibility Strategy: A Case Study of Residential Buildings in Shenzhen, China.

The ambitious environmental goal set by Chinese government of reaching peak carbon emission by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 have aroused attention of zero carbon strategy development by different sectors. Among them, the life-cycle carbon emission of building sector accounts for approximate half of the total emissions. The flexible operation of building energy system is a promising way to balance the instantaneous demand and supply, which can improve the reliability of the renewable energy supply system. Under this strategy, solar photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage are considered as important built-in flexibility resources for buildings to reduce operation carbon emission. However, there is lack of quantitative analysis to investigate the effect of these flexibility resources on life-cycle carbon emission of buildings. This study will select PV and three energy storage measures, including thermal energy storage, fixed battery and electric vehicle (EV) battery, to form various flexibility strategies and to compare their impacts on life cycle carbon emission based on a prefabricated high-rise residential project in Shenzhen, China, which is comprised of three 32-story buildings and an underground parking, with approximately total 666,000 square feet (62,000 square meter). In order to evaluate both environmental and economic performances, this study introduces 3 indicators: payback period, carbon reduction ratio and cost-carbon rate. The performance of building implemented with different strategies will be compared against a reference situation that without any flexibility strategies. The quantitative analysis of carbon emission in this case study will support architects and building designers to compare multiple flexible strategies and measures to achieve carbon neutrality of building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]