EE Settlement – Norwegian Model Description. Theoretical background, methodology, reference values, and data sources

Abstract

Decisions regarding urban density and form present an ongoing challenge to European municipalities. The project EE Settlement – Embodied Energy, Costs and Traffic in Different Settlement Patterns specifically addresses some of the currently overlooked or unquantified aspects of new development projects (or settlements) – the embodied and operational energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, & direct public costs attributable to buildings, infrastructure, facilities, services, & transport. One output of the EE Settlement project is a web-tool designed to allow users to quickly assess and compare metrics regarding the embodied and operational energy, GHG emissions, and costs related to new settlements. The objective of this report is to provide an overview of the theoretical background, methodology, reference models, data sources, and limitations for the Norwegian model. This report is intended as a supplement to both the web-tool and the series of reports published under EE Settlement.