The life cycle carbon footprint of refurbished and new buildings - A systematic review of case studies

The results highlight that the average embodied, operational-related and demolition-related CO2 is responsible for 24%, 75% and 1%, respectively, of LCCF. Furthermore, this review indicates that while the type of heating and energy supply system can significantly impact overall LCCF (when normalised to kgCO2/60 years/m2 floor area), other factors, such as building floor area or number of storeys, have minimal effect. A comparison between the LCCF of refurbished and new buildings showed that while most refurbishments had lower LCCF than most new buildings, some new buildings performed better than refurbished ones. Thus, findings suggest that on the basis of current evidence, it is still not possible to conclusively determine which of the alternatives is preferred. Finally, the paper highlights the current state of buildings LCCF, in particular in terms of the analysis scope and limitations, illustrating how these terms were interpreted differently in the examined case studies, and subsequently highlighting the need for a unified protocol to be developed for building LCCF analysis.