Life-cycle energy implications of different residential settings : recognizing buildings, travel, and public infrastructure.

Details

• Creators:
  Nichols, Brice ; Kockelman, Kara
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Texas at Austin. Center for Transportation Research
• Corporate Contributors:
  University Transportation Centers Program (U.S.)
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Urban areas
  • Microsimulation
  • Energy consumption
  • Life cycle costing
  • Vehicle miles of travel
  • Travel demand
  • Land use
  • Smart growth
  • Sustainable development
  • Neighborhoods
  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  SWUTC/13/600451-00067-1
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Southwest Region University Transportation Center (U.S.)
• Abstract:
  The built environment can be used to influence travel demand, but very few studies consider the relative energy ; savings of such policies in context of a complex urban system. This analysis quantifies the day-to-day and embodied ; energy consumption of four different neighborhoods in Austin, Texas, to examine how built environment variations ; influence various sources of urban energy consumption. A microsimulation combines models for petroleum use (from ; driving) and residential and commercial power and natural gas use with rigorously measured building stock and ; infrastructure materials quantities (to arrive at embodied energy). Results indicate that the more suburban ; neighborhoods, with mostly detached single-family homes, consume up to 320% more embodied energy, 150% more ; operational energy, and about 160% more total life-cycle energy (per capita) than a densely developed neighborhood ; with mostly low-rise-apartments and duplexes. Across all neighborhoods, operational energy use comprised 83 to 92% ; of total energy use, and transportation sources (including personal vehicles and transit, plus street, parking structure, ; and sidewalk infrastructure) made up 44 to 47% of the life-cycle energy demands tallied. Energy elasticity calculations ; across the neighborhoods suggest that increased population density and reduced residential unit size offer greatest lifecycle energy savings per capita, by reducing both operational demands from driving and home energy use, and from ; less embodied energy from construction. The results support the notion that transportation and the built environment ; are strongly linked, and improving urban energy efficiency must come from policies and designs targeting embodied ; sources, not just a household’s travel and daily energy consumption.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  DTRT12-G-UTC06
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/26653/dot_26653_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 816.16 KB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:51a46a2cce3b327ba7a7c6ab9be28e9f65b0d82bc0d25d004a60ef852409cd85