米国オフィスビルの炭素・非CO2排出に及ぼす地域燃料構成と設計決定の影響の定量化

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a methodology for assessing building retrofit strategies considering regional grid emissions and non-CO2 pollutants.

🏢実務担当者:Informs building owners and designers on how to prioritize retrofit measures based on local grid carbon intensity.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the importance of grid-specific policies for building electrification to avoid unintended environmental consequences.

Commercial buildings in the U.S. consume roughly 17% to 20% of total national energy, with electricity being a primary energy source, accounting for approximately 38% of energy used within those buildings (EIA, 2023). However, the emissions linked to this demand vary considerably by region due to differences in fuel mix (EIA, 2025). Prior research on similar topics often relies on regional averages, which overlooks the heterogeneity of eGRID subregions, the overlapping of grids and their distinct carbon and pollutant profiles. This gap limits understanding of how regional electricity systems translate building energy use into climate and air quality impacts, and the impact of different design and retrofit strategies of buildings in different areas. As the push to decarbonize the buildings in the U.S. accelerates, commercial building retrofits are increasingly prioritized. However, many climate policies advocate for rapid building electrification as a universal solution, frequently overlooking the profound impact of local electricity grid composition. This study investigates the true environmental effectiveness of electrification and various retrofit strategies, ranging from passive envelope upgrades to full HVAC electrification, across commercial office buildings in seven U.S. subregions with distinct grid fuel mixes, from renewable-heavy to coal-dominated. While existing literature frequently evaluates retrofits based on operational energy savings, this analysis concurrently assesses optimization for both energy efficiency and carbon reduction while uniquely incorporating non-CO₂ criteria pollutants (NOx, SO₂). Using ComStock energy simulations integrated with regional eGRID emission factors, absolute and standardized emission impacts were quantified to determine how retrofit priorities shift when targeting decarbonization rather than simple energy cost savings. The results indicate that grid composition fundamentally dictates retrofit success. In clean grids, energy and carbon objectives largely align, heavily rewarding aggressive electrification with massive pollutant reductions. Conversely, in coal-heavy and mixed grids, optimizing for carbon drastically reorders engineering priorities; forcing premature electrification in these regions actively worsens the environmental footprint, triggering severe localized spikes in SO₂ and NOx as heating loads are transferred to fossilfuel power plants. These findings illustrate that treating building electrification as a monolithic climate strategy is structurally flawed. Ultimately, we propose a grid-dependent decarbonization framework: clean grids must accelerate electrification, while carbon-intensive grids must strictly prioritize passive load reduction through an efficiency-first approach. Future work should incorporate hourly marginal emission rates and whole-life carbon assessments to capture the complete environmental dynamics of the energy transition.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.1184/r1/32623374.v1first seen 2026-08-19 04:34:09 · last seen 2026-08-20 04:32:30