A Study on the Energy Usage and EUI Characteristics by Residential Buildings

주거용 건물의 에너지 사용량 및 원단위 특성 연구

Approximately 30 years ago, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was created at the 1992 Rio Environmental Conference in Brazil to address climate issues due to global warming. Since then, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) took place, and Korea set greenhouse gas reduction targets for 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) and carbon neutrality in 2050 for different sectors. In 2018, greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector reached 179.2 million tons, including 52.1 million tons of direct emissions and 127.1 million tons of indirect emissions, like electricity. This accounted for 24.7% of total domestic greenhouse gas emissions. To meet the goals, direct emissions should be reduced to 35 million tons by 2030, a 32.8% decrease, and to 6.2 million tons by 2050, an 88.1% reduction. Various energy-saving and emission-reduction systems have been developed in the building sector over time. Residential buildings contributed significantly to energy consumption, with 58.7% (20,110,000 toe) compared to non-residential buildings at 41.3% (14,139,000 toe) from 2018 to 2022, as reported by the Korea Real Estate Board. The plan for mandatory zero-energy buildings calls for public apartments to achieve this status by 2023 and private apartments with 30 or more households to be level 5 zero-energy buildings by 2024. The ultimate goal is to reach level 1 by ensuring all buildings achieve an energy self-sufficiency rate above 100% by 2050. To achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets for residential buildings, it's essential to consider their current energy usage characteristics. However, research in this area is lacking. Therefore, this study examined the energy consumption and unit characteristics of residential buildings in Korea with the goal of providing fundamental data and strategies to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.