Current Measures and Future Pathways for Achieving Carbon Neutral Building Design: A Focus on Coastal Commercial Buildings

Abstract

There is now limited worldwide research and discussion on carbon neutrality in commercial buildings to meet practical needs. A review of the research literature and existing examples of carbon-neutral design for commercial buildings using the original five design pathways from the US and Dutch case studies found that current approaches to reducing carbon emissions and improving energy efficiency by maximising natural sunlight and reducing electricity use have exceeded the energy demand rate of buildings, however, the lack of measures for carbon-negative technologies has hindered the development of carbon-neutral buildings. This study builds on the original pathway by proposing a design pathway of 'target (carbon neutral) + environment (coastal) + design project (commercial building)', divided into two areas: carbon reduction and carbon sequestration for coastal buildings. The design pathway for carbon sequestration includes measures such as CTU for freight, wetland restoration and ocean energy use.