Post-Doc @ NTNU on Dynamic Building Stocks Life-Cycle Energy Assessment

The Industrial Ecology Program (IndEcol), Department of Energy and Process Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), is seeking a Post-Doc on dynamic modelling of building stocks and flows regarding long-term performance improvements for life-cycle energy use and energy-related emissions. IndEcol is an interdisciplinary research and teaching program managing its own International MSc program and PhD program. IndEcol has a high reputation within the field as evidenced by a high-profile international evaluation. IndEcol is well recognized for its work in the areas of life-cycle assessment, material flow analysis, and the use of input-output analysis for environmental assessments, as evidenced by numerous publications and international prizes.

The aim of this research position is to improve current scientific quantitative methods for examining future reductions of direct and indirect energy use and corresponding emissions from building stocks. Buildings represent a large share of the overall energy use and will play an important role in future climate change mitigation. However, the characteristics of energy use and emissions from buildings stocks are complex by nature: The size of building stocks (i.e. number of buildings or aggregated building floor area) and the type/age structure of building stocks (i.e. composition in terms of building typology segments and age cohorts) change a lot over time; building stocks normally grow due to increasing demand and therefore also age over time; the material and energy ‘metabolic’ ratios between stocks and flows (construction and renovation inflows, and demolitions and renovation outflows) are certainly not constant, and can be significantly improved over time due to building codes, renovation policies and technological and cultural measures targeting key factors such as per capita floor area and energy intensity for space heating and ventilation, hot water, electric appliances and building materials. All these characteristics are important for future direct and indirect energy use, but in order to understand the relationships between key factors dynamic building stocks models of better quality than what is today available are needed. The goal of the research position is development and application of such dynamic models for the examination of promising strategies and solutions to future energy reductions at local and national scale. The focus will be on the modelling and assessment of building stocks and flows dynamics and the aggregated effects of renovation and energy reduction measures for selected type/age stock segments towards 2040.

Full position advertisement is available at www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=92113

For further information please contact Professor Helge Brattebø (helge.brattebo@ntnu.no); tel.: +47-95022976 or Professor Edgar Hertwich (edgar.hertwich@ntnu.no); tel.: +47-73598949. General information about IndEcol is available from the website www.ntnu.edu/indecol

Application deadline: 30 April 2013

Thank you to Helge Brattebø for sending this in.