Project: How prepared are Swedish detached houses to adapt to Climate Change?
This project will analyse how these can affect detached houses in different climate zones in Sweden – and how this, in turn, can affect construction companies, insurance companies, real estate agencies and banks.
Facts about the project
Project manager
Brijesh Mainali
Other project members
Krushna Mahapatra, Aarthi Aishwarya Devendran, Georgios Pardalis, Linneaus University, Nik Vahid, Lund University, Amin Moazami, Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Lund University, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Sparbanken Eken, Svensk fastighetsförmedling, Länsförsäkringar fastighetsförmedling, Fastighetsbyrån, Klimatfastigheter Småland AB
Financier
FORMAS – Swedish Government research council for sustainable development
Timetable
1 Jan 2022 - Dec 2025
Subject
Sustainable built environment (Department of Built Environment and Energy Technology, Faculty of Technology)
Research group
Sustainable Built Environment Research (SBER)
Linnaeus Knowledge Environment
Green Sustainable Development
More about the project
The global warming has far-reaching consequences on several climatic parameters, including extreme high or low precipitation, extreme temperature rises, heat waves, storms, sea level rise. Rise in sea levels in the coastal areas particularly the southernmost part of Sweden could badly impact housing and on the settlement in the region due to beach erosion. Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute has warned that the precipitation in Sweden can increase 10 to 40% in the coming century which could lead many detached houses (especially built before 70s) with basement in the risk of flooding. There will be a possibility of increased humidity along with temperature rise. Higher humidity and higher temperatures will surge the risk of mold, rot (spoiling the strength of wood) and insect attacks to the building requiring more maintenance cost. Due to climate change, there could be change in the energy use pattern, with increased cooling demand in the summertime, and less heating demand in the winter. Deep renovation of buildings provides an opportunity to deal with both climate change mitigation and adaptation.
This research will
- Prepare spatial map of the climate change risks and damages in the detached house sector across Sweden and explore the adaptation measures of buildings exposed to high climate change risk zones using GIS tools.
- Assess impacts of climate change on the hydrothermal (moisture) and energy performance of some typical detached houses in various climatic zones.
- Examine the market implication of the climate change to the property prices and the financial benefits of doing climate smart retrofits
- Analyze perceptions and preparedness of demand and supply side actors and develop collective strategy for supply and demand side actors of detached house sector to combat with climate change
Results of this research will be instrumental to Real-estate agencies and construction SMEs will have the ability to prepare or adjust their market strategies for detached houses (focusing on climate change agenda). Mapping of climate risks and damages could be useful for insurance companies (adjustment of insurance premiums) and banks (evaluation of loan investment risk).
The project is part of the research in the research group Sustainable Built Environment Research (SBER) and in Linnaeus Knowledge Environment
Green Sustainable Development.