Abstract
Recent global commitments towards net-zero 2050 have resulted in an increased interest within a number of industries. The built environment has been identified as a major culprit contributing to the ongoing complex problem of carbon emissions. In an attempt to reveal the efforts, put into alleviating this challenge, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive, quantitative analysis of the literature on net-zero (energy and GHG emissions) in the built environment over the last two decades. In this study, well-established bibliometric and scientometric techniques are deployed to map the scientific domains by developing and analysing the resulting co-citation and keyword co-occurrence network developed from the bibliometric data from 1934 peer-reviewed articles retrieved from the SCOPUS database.
The most significant contributions in net-zero research have originated primarily from UK, USA, and China. The results of the network analysis identified seven foundational themes of research - greenhouse gas emission, deep decarbonisation, earth material, residential building, high-rise building, displacement, ventilation, and walling element. The burst analysis revealed how a number of emerging digital technologies in the sector present opportunities to optimise future developments towards the attainment of a net-zero emission built environment. To address the complexity associated with emissions caused by the built environment, the findings suggest that there is a need to expand the current LCA assessments to a broader, industry-wide scale, beyond the predominant ‘single building case study’ as the unit of reference. Moreover, the national net-zero pathway studies should aim to extend beyond the operational emission scenarios, and into assessing the impacts on materials and embedded emissions, which has grown exponentially.
The most significant contributions in net-zero research have originated primarily from UK, USA, and China. The results of the network analysis identified seven foundational themes of research - greenhouse gas emission, deep decarbonisation, earth material, residential building, high-rise building, displacement, ventilation, and walling element. The burst analysis revealed how a number of emerging digital technologies in the sector present opportunities to optimise future developments towards the attainment of a net-zero emission built environment. To address the complexity associated with emissions caused by the built environment, the findings suggest that there is a need to expand the current LCA assessments to a broader, industry-wide scale, beyond the predominant ‘single building case study’ as the unit of reference. Moreover, the national net-zero pathway studies should aim to extend beyond the operational emission scenarios, and into assessing the impacts on materials and embedded emissions, which has grown exponentially.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 112119 |
Journal | Energy and Buildings |
Volume | 266 |
Early online date | 21 Apr 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2022 |
Keywords
- Bibliometric analysis
- Built environment
- Decarbonisation
- Embodied emissions
- GHG emissions
- LCA
- Net-zero
- Network analysis
- Operational emissions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Building and Construction
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering