Marsh, R; Larsen, V G and Kragh, M (2010) Housing and energy in Denmark: Past, present, and future challenges. Building Research & Information, 38(1), pp. 92-106. ISSN 0961-3218
Abstract
The historical background, current context and future challenges are examined for residential energy consumption in Denmark. There has been a radical transformation in housing energy consumption over the last 30 years, with an absolute reduction in heat consumption and a rapid growth in electricity consumption, reflecting wider technological and social transformations in the movement from an industrial to a knowledge-based society. In new housing it is shown that electricity consumption now dominates the total primary energy consumption. As a consequence, traditional heat-saving paradigms are relatively less effective, and can result in overheating and rising electricity consumption. At the same time, rising temperatures in the future due to climate change will result in falling heat demand and increasing cooling demand in housing. With this context, a theoretical framework is proposed for defining low-energy paradigms based on which components of energy consumption can be regulated. It is shown that there has been a historical movement from older, narrow paradigms to newer, broader paradigms in Denmark, best exemplified by the movement towards zero-energy housing.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | climate change; electricity consumption; heat consumption; housing stock; low-energy housing; low-energy regulation; new-build housing; primary energy reductions |
| Index terms: | Denmark, electricity consumption, consumption, climate change, housing, paradigm, energy consumption, regulation, housing stock, residential energy, new-build housing, overheating, transformation, movement, society, primary energy |
| Subjects: | energy systems, climate science, health behaviours and lifestyles, consumer economics, business, construction type, thermal systems, political science, communities and social development, industry analysis, Geography, education and knowledge transfer, economic development |
| Topics: | Geographical Context, Research Practice, Business Strategy, Governance, Sustainability, Construction Technology, Stakeholder Management, Urban Studies |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here