Review of non-domestic building stock modelling studies under socio-technical system framework

• Published in: Journal of Building Engineering 2024-11, Vol.97, p.110873, Article 110873
• Main Authors: Zhou, Jingfeng, Fennell, Pamela, Korolija, Ivan, Fang, Zigeng, Tang, Rui, Ruyssevelt, Paul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon footprint; Energy consumption; Non-domestic buildings; Socio-technical review; Stock modelling
• ISSN: 2352-7102; 2352-7102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2024.110873

The construction industry contributes to approximately 30% of global energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, necessitating urgent measures to mitigate carbon emissions and address climate problems. This study focuses on the underexplored realm of Non-domestic Building Stock (NDBS), which constitutes 8% of global energy consumption and 11% of worldwide carbon emissions. Due to the long lifecycle of buildings, a comprehensive assessment of the NDBS is imperative to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon buildings by 2050. The current NDBS studies can be categorised into two groups based on the geographic location and type of building being studied. Each of these two different building stocks demonstrates different research and analysis tools, but specific comparisons have not yet been made between them. In addition, existing literature reviews of NDBS have mainly emphasised the technical aspects and neglected their social aspects. This study aims to critically review the energy and carbon footprint related efforts in NDBS research, assess the current state of research, and propose potential research trends. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 99 out of 906 articles are fully reviewed. Utilising and adapting the Social-Technical Systems (STS) approach, this study analyses the data requirements, research methods, and research objectives of NDBS studies concerning energy consumption and carbon footprint from five perspectives, namely infrastructure, technology, processes, goals, and people. Results demonstrate that geo-stock and type-stock approaches, while focusing on different aspects of building stock, can share data and analysis methods to improve research efficiency and model accuracy. Additionally, findings highlight that incorporating socio-economic factors into technical models can enhance model robustness and output reliability, thereby supporting effective policy-making and energy management strategies. This study provides a new multidimensional approach to evaluate the development of NDBS energy and carbon footprint research, and helps to incorporate socio-economic analysis into NDBS physics-based models to improve the efficiency and reliability of such models for future research and practice. •Adapt socio-technical framework to analyse non-domestic building stock.•Compare type-stock and geo-stock within NDBS to identify challenges and strategies.•Integrate societal aspects into NDBS studies for policy relevance and effectiveness.•Improv