Investigation on the Energy Consumption in the Built Environment of Gotland

Global concern about climate change and its impacts on the environment isprogressively increasing. This has raised an important issue in the buildings andconstruction industry regarding the effects of climate change on the buildingenergy performance. Currently, many residential buildings do not fulfill theenergy requirements even with the current weather conditions, mainly becauseof poor design or because the buildings are designed according to olderregulations. Consequently, there is a need for significant changes in the buildingdesign and construction in order to create a more sustainable built environmentwith lower energy consumption. However, it is not possible to change all thesebuildings in order to meet the needs of today. It is therefore of utmostimportance that the energy production comes from renewable sources as ameans to mitigate the potential environmental impacts of climate change.In Sweden, the field of renewable energy has seen a significant growth inrecent years, and particularly in Gotland, where the project under investigationis located. In Gotland, several wind farms and wind turbines have already beeninstalled in order to benefit from the advantageous wind conditions of the island.However, the development of the project for improving the connection ofGotland’s electricity grid with the Swedish mainland power grid has come intoa halt since 2017, and Gotland is now facing major issues in terms of electricityconsumption. And as climate change only escalates in the future, it is crucial toaddress this issue. Through an extensive study of the residential sector ofGotland, this thesis examines the buildings’ energy performance with theintention of finding and proposing possible solutions and alternatives that caneventually flatten the peaks in the energy consumption of the built environmentin Gotland