EXCHANGE Volume 02, No. 1, 2024, pp. 114-122

Wenzheng SUN

Low-Carbon Buildings Development and Application in Europe

Abstract: The Earth is the home for human survival and development. With social progress and rapid economic development, global energy demand has sharply increased. The concentration of carbon dioxide is rising year by year, and the destruction of the ecological environment is becoming increasingly severe. Reducing energy consumption and lowering carbon dioxide emissions are among the important tasks humanity currently faces. For the energy-intensive and highly-polluting construction industry, achieving building decarbonization is a crucial step towards sustainable development, and the development of low-carbon buildings is the inevitable path to address the low-carbonization of the construction industry. It is pointed out that as one of the human activities with the highest energy consumption, the construction industry has a significant impact on the environment throughout the process of design, construction, use, maintenance, and demolition. By comparing and studying examples of low-carbon building construction in European countries, taking into account their respective characteristics and the low-carbon technologies used, we can summarize the advanced low-carbon concepts and technologies employed in typical low-carbon buildings in Europe. This provides a positive outlook for the future development prospects of low-carbon buildings.

Keywords: Carbon neutrality; climate change; low-carbon buildings; European cases; energy-saving technology.