A novel spatial based approach for estimation of space heating demand saving potential and CO2 emissions reduction in urban areas

Space heating accounts for the most significant share of final energy demand in buildings in colder climatic regions contributing to greenhouse gas emission. In addition, there is a lack of data available to assess spatially, the potential of space heating demand reduction in different buildings when considering typical building refurbishment measures. Hence, in this paper, a robust information socket for urban building stock is developed to assess the impact of energy efficiency measures on space heating demand savings and CO2 emission reduction potential in the existing buildings based on a Geographical Information System tool. The model considers the topology and thermal performance of different building categories; houses with and without thermal insulation, apartments, commercial, public, office, and industrial buildings. Three scenarios, a reference and two additional scenarios using Prishtina city as a case study, have been created for standard (scenario 1), and advanced energy efficiency (scenario 2) measures based on the government's proposed policies. The findings show that space heat demand saving potential for scenario 1 and 2 in comparison to the reference scenario was 50% and 68.5% respectively. Moreover, the CO2 emissions are reduced significantly from 502.3 mil kgCO(2)/year in reference scenario to 249.8 mil kgCO(2)/year for scenario 1 and 158.7 mil kgCO(2)/year in scenario 2 respectively. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.