Yasmine Priore

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Priore

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Yasmine

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0000-0001-7661-9350

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Publications 1 - 10 of 10

Potential for biogenic carbon storage towards a net-zero built environment in Switzerland
Priore, Yasmine; Schulthess, Lucile; Delmenico, Sarah; et al. (2025)
Sustainable Production and Consumption
The built environment is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, posing challenges for achieving net-zero targets by 2050. This study examines the potential of an increased use of biobased materials in the Swiss residential building stock to mitigate emissions while increasing biogenic carbon storage. Using a Python-based building stock model, the study evaluates the effectiveness of increasing the share of biobased materials in both renovations and new constructions under different scenarios compared to climate goals. Results indicate that renovations will become the dominant driver of building stock emissions and biogenic carbon storage potential by 2050. While new construction activities will decline due to demographic trends, renovations will contribute nearly four times more to GHG emissions than new buildings. Nevertheless, new constructions are more effective at storing biogenic carbon, achieving a biogenic-to-emissions ratio of 300 % by 2050, compared to 176 % for renovations. By mid-century, the yearly biogenic carbon storage in buildings could reach 2.5 Mt. CO₂, approaching a balance with yearly GHG embodied emissions. However, even in the most optimistic scenario, increasing biobased material use alone reduces cumulative emissions by only 5–8 % compared to business as usual, underscoring the need for additional emission reduction strategies, including decarbonizing material production and reducing construction activities. The long-term analysis reveals that biogenic carbon storage potential is constrained by demolition rates (assuming full re-emission at the end of life), with a higher demolition rate accelerating carbon turnover and limiting storage capacity. A cumulative maximum biogenic carbon stock of 300–400 Mt. CO₂ is projected in the long-term, surpassing Switzerland's expected cumulative net emissions removals by 2050 by 6 times. This study highlights the built environment's potential as a long-term carbon reservoir and emphasizes the necessity of targeted renovation strategies, regulatory policies, and material production improvements to achieve climate goals effectively.
The Carbon Impact of Buildings’ Slabs: Hotspots, Challenges, and Opportunities
Priore, Yasmine; Schulthess, Lucile; Jusselme, Thomas (2024)
PLEA 2024: (Re)thinking Resilience. The book of proceedings
Considering the urgent call to tackle climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment becomes a priority. Slabs in multi-family houses are responsible for a high share of building’s life carbon emissions due to their intrinsic multi-functional nature and high quantity of materials. This research evaluates the impact of the different functional layers within a slab component, compares alternative materials with regards to the functional requirements, and assesses promising solutions in the context of element-based carbon budgets. Life cycle assessment, following established standards, is applied to a representative library of slab components. Results reveal that material choices for the structural layer significantly influence the environmental impact, with wood structure exhibiting five times lower carbon emissions compared to a traditional concrete slab and meeting the most stringent carbon budgets for the structural layer. The screed layer is identified as a significant contributor to the overall impact, holding an important relationship between its thickness and mass and the level of acoustic insulation. Only limited options are available to replace the cement-based screed in its functionality and although the acoustic performance and thickness hold a non-linear relationship, further studies are needed to confidently replace this layer with alternative materials.
What really matters when benchmarking carbon mitigation measures against carbon budget-aligned targets for buildings?
Priore, Yasmine; Jusselme, Thomas; Frossard, Mija; et al. (2026)
Energy and Buildings
As net-zero goals impose increasingly stringent requirements on buildings, urgent action is needed in the design process to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and comply with forthcoming mandatory targets. While the scientific literature is dense with measures to mitigate GHG emissions, practitioners often lack clarity on the level of effort required during design to stay within specific targets. This study systematically quantifies the GHG emissions reduction potential of various measures applied to a reference building (multi-family and single-family houses) in Switzerland, assessing their effectiveness in meeting targets along the life cycle phases. To this purpose, a parametric model is developed to generate a detailed bill of quantities based on a few initial parameters, with measures applied by adjusting relevant parameters or materials. The results indicate that current standard practices for new constructions fall significantly short of meeting existing targets, particularly in terms of upfront and replacement emissions. None of the measures tested in this study allowed to reduce GHG emissions below the 2025 target by itself. However, avoiding underground floors and substituting materials for structural elements show the greatest potential to approach upfront budgets. Achieving the 2025 embodied carbon targets requires combining at first two essential measures, one of which must involve either avoiding underground floors or optimizing structural elements. Additional effective strategies include substituting materials in non-structural elements, designing compact building envelopes, and opting for simpler preparatory works. Achieving operational emissions targets in new constructions demands a substantial increase in on-site renewable energy generation. However, this raises embodied emissions, creating an additional challenge to remain within embodied carbon budgets.
Integrating Moisture Dynamics into Grasshopper Architectural Design Workflow: A Plugin to Grasp the Benefits of Moisture Buffering Materials
Posani, Magda; Priore, Yasmine; Esteve, Pierre; et al. (2024)
This study investigates the efficacy of low-carbon building materials, particularly earthen composites, in regulating indoor moisture levels via numerical simulations. This work emphasises the need to integrate moisture dynamics into the early-design architectural workflow through a case study - an office building in Grenoble constructed with compressed earth bricks stabilized with cement. Dynamic numerical simulations through a new dynamic hygrothermal simulation grasshopper plugin – WaterSkater – are used to simulate the indoor temperature and humidity conditions in the case study. The simulations are calibrated against one year of measured indoor air hygrothermal data. The simulation model is then used to compare the indoor air temperature and humidity variation if a highly moisture-buffering, unstabilised earthen plaster is used to finish the indoor-facing surface of walls and ceiling. Results demonstrate the relevance of hygroscopic unstabilised earthen materials in improving indoor hygrometric comfort compared to cement-stabilised earthen construction. Additionally, the hygrothermal simulations are compared to conventional energy simulations performed with Grasshopper early design tools – Ladybug. The outcomes showcase that ordinary dynamic energy simulations do not consider moisture transfer, thus failing to grasp the benefit of moisture-buffering materials like earthen composites. Overall, this paper highlights the potential of unstabilised earthen materials for passive improvement of user comfort and showcases the ability of WaterSkater plugin to grasp this benefit, at the building level, from the early stages of architectural design workflows.
Aligning building sector targets with climate commitments: A carbon budget and multi-scale approach supporting policy and design strategies
Priore, Yasmine (2025)
The built environment contributes circa 37% of global CO₂ emissions and despite numerous international commitments, emissions are on the rise, and climate action continues to fall short of targets. Within the global context, Switzerland, while formally committed to limit global warming, holds great responsibility on consumption-based emissions, and its building stock remains inefficient, fossil-fuel dependent, and reliant on emissions-intensive materials. Therefore, this doctoral thesis explores how the Swiss building sector can effectively align with the global goal of limiting temperature rise. Critical gaps are identified in the current literature and implementation of climate goals within the built environment. While climate science offers clear global carbon budgets, national and sectoral policies often fail to translate these into specific, enforceable limits. Switzerland’s building sector, for example, lacks consistent tracking of embodied emissions and exhibits inconsistencies across policy instruments. Furthermore, current targets often overlook the combined impact of operational and embodied emissions, and they lack a coherent accounting framework. Moreover, while mitigation measures in the sector are known, there seems to be a lack of understanding of the level of effort required to meet climate goals within the built environment and the potential of bio-based materials in this context is not yet fully acknowledged. In response to these gaps, the thesis poses key research questions: How can the global carbon budget be allocated to the building sector and individual buildings in a scientifically sound and operationally feasible manner? What policy strategies and design measures can ensure that buildings comply with these carbon budgets? And is the potential of bio-based materials and biogenic carbon storage relevant to pursue? To address these questions, the thesis adopts a multi-scale and carbon budget approach. It combines top-down carbon budget allocation with bottom-up building performance analysis. Scenario modelling, sensitivity analysis, and life cycle assessment are used across stock and building scales. The Swiss context is used as a case study, and data is drawn from national climate policy, emissions inventories, and case-specific architectural studies. Chapter 2 establishes the methodology for allocating carbon budgets to the Swiss construction activities and individual buildings. It reveals a significant mismatch between existing building practices and budget-compatible targets. By comparing operational and embodied emissions against budgets derived from the 1.5°C goal, the chapter illustrates how even best-practice buildings often exceed allowable emissions unless immediate and aggressive reductions are implemented. It also highlights how different assumptions in budget allocation, such as dependency on imports or national climate strategies, can substantially influence building-level targets. Chapter 3 examines the sensitivity of different mitigation strategies at both the stock and building scale. At the national scale, the analysis shows that while renovations are essential to reduce operational emissions, their embodied emissions must also be carefully managed to achieve meaningful cumulative reductions by 2050. At building level, the study ranks various measures, such as low-carbon materials, compact design, and reduced underground works, against carbon targets. The results underscore that no single measure is sufficient; instead, cumulative and sequential strategies are required. Importantly, the chapter provides insights into the level of effort required to meet or fail to meet the carbon targets defined in chapter 2. Finally, chapter 4 investigates the role of bio-based materials in both reducing emissions and enabling biogenic carbon storage. Through case studies and stock-level modelling, it assesses how wood and other bio-based materials can serve as temporary carbon storage within buildings while simultaneously substituting emissions-intensive materials. Results indicate that embodied emissions at the building scale can be reduced by up to 40% through the substitution of conventional materials with bio-based alternatives. However, when these solutions are scaled up to the national building stock, the overall impact is more modest, yielding up to an 8% reduction in cumulative emissions by 2050. Furthermore, the chapter finds that while bio-based construction offers meaningful carbon storage potential, its effectiveness depends on forest management, product longevity, and end-of-life treatment. At building stock scale, it is found that storage potential can be ensured over a long period but is bound, in the long-term, to carbon turnover rates once demolition of biogenic materials matches implementation. Mechanism which will eventually result in a maximum plateau of storage in the built environment of over 300 MtCO2 in the next centuries. The discussion chapter of this thesis synthesizes findings across scales and interest groups. It highlights the need to shift focus from operational to embodied emissions in regulatory frameworks and to ensure coherence between design practices and policy frameworks. It stresses the importance of combining mitigation with carbon storage strategies and managing trade-offs across environmental, economic, and social dimensions. It also addresses the urgency of translating complex scientific findings into actionable and enforceable policies, especially in the face of climate urgency. In conclusion, the thesis argues that aligning the building sector with climate goals requires science-based carbon targets, harmonized standards, and integrated strategies across scales. It demonstrates that the stringent climate targets are technically achievable in the building sector but demand immediate action, deep emissions cuts, and the mobilization of both technological and natural solutions currently available. By offering a replicable carbon budget approach and quantitative potentials of mitigation measures, the thesis provides a foundation for policy reform and practical application in design.
Definition of Building Archetypes Based on the Swiss Energy Performance Certificates Database
Pongelli, Alessandro; Priore, Yasmine; Bacher, Jean-Philippe; et al. (2023)
Buildings
The building stock is responsible for 24% of carbon emissions in Switzerland and 44% of the final energy use. Considering that most of the existing stock will still be in place in 2050, it becomes essential to better understand this source of emissions. Although the Swiss Cantonal Energy Certificate for Buildings (CECB) database has been used in previous research, no comprehensive characterization of the buildings can be found. This data paper presents an analysis and classification of the Swiss building stock based on the data found in the database. The objective is to create a knowledge foundation that can be used in future research on the performance of existing buildings. Using a sample of almost 50,000 buildings and a Python script, datasheets were created for single-family houses and multi-family houses for nine construction periods. These archetypes are described through selected available energy-related parameters, such as energy reference area, U-values, and energy source with indicators such as median, 25th percentile, and 75th percentile or distributions. The resulting data can be used for different purposes: (1) to calibrate energy models; (2) for analysis that requires scaling-up strategies to the whole stock; and (3) to identify weak and/or relevant classes of buildings throughout the stock.
Stepwise renovation of buildings: what to refurbish first to minimize life-cycle carbon emissions?
Priore, Yasmine; Schulthess, Lucile; Schwab, Stefanie; et al. (2023)
Journal of Physics: Conference Series ~ CISBAT International Conference 2023: Life-Cycle Analysis
To tackle the upcoming renovation wave, this work evaluates renovation strategies with a life cycle GHG emissions perspective and includes time and sequencing in the decision-making process. A case study is used to conduct a full life cycle assessment of renovation strategies in line with the Swiss normative context. Improvements in the operational energy consumption are evaluated with an energy model using the software Lesosai and considering the normative limits from the SIA 380/1. GHG emissions are calculated using the Swiss KBOB data inventory and in line with the SIA 2032 methodology. The renovation measures are then examined individually with the carbon payback time indicator and strategies with cumulative emissions over time in contrast to carbon budgets. Results show that the sequence of the refurbishment steps can increase or decrease cumulative GHG emissions of ca. 30% over the lifetime of the building. Changing a fossil-fuel based heating system is the most impactful measure and must happen as soon as possible. Switching to decarbonized heating systems reduces the carbon effectiveness of subsequent renovation measures but poses the question of energy availability. Fully renovating a building but delaying the change of heating system by only 7 years can compromise the achievement of the carbon targets.
Embodied net-zero compatible buildings? They already exist!
Priore, Yasmine; Jusselme, Thomas; Habert, Guillaume (2023)
Journal of Physics: Conference Series ~ CISBAT International Conference 2023: Life-Cycle Analysis
This paper identifies buildings on pathway to meet carbon targets for embodied emissions aligned with global carbon budgets and mitigation pathways. A simplified bottom-up model is used, assessing multiple variations of a new construction archetype to identify the main strategies to achieve the targets. The model estimates the quantities of the main components with a few input geometry parameters. Life cycle emissions are then computed based on predefined building components. The reference building is representative of a typical new construction with standard operational values and massive construction. Strategies evaluate design optimization measures, construction techniques, and materials variations. Results show that (1) characteristics and volume of the building play a determining role. The existence and size of underground floors can determine the achievement of todays and future targets. (2) Construction choices can half emissions just by switching from concrete to wood and using natural insulation. (3) Future improvements in the supply chain of materials do not follow the required reduction pathway determined by the Swiss climate strategy. Net-zero compatible buildings are already possible, it is just a matter of making the right choices.
Integrating Moisture Dynamics into Architectural Design Workflows: A grasshopper plugin to grasp the benefits of moisture buffering materials
Posani, Magda; Priore, Yasmine; Sarangi, Ganeshalingam; et al. (2025)
RILEM Bookseries ~ Proceedings of the RILEM Spring Convention and Conference 2024. Volume 1
Low-carbon building materials, such as earth- and bio-based ones, have an excellent capacity to regulate indoor moisture levels. Thanks to their hygroscopic nature, they can buffer moisture from the indoor environment, absorbing it when humidity increases and releasing it when the air becomes drier. This moisture-buffering capacity can significantly improve indoor comfort and well-being. However, the extent of this benefit depends on factors like building usage, occupancy, ventilation rates, and external climate conditions. Thus, dynamic numerical simulations are often necessary to quantify the materials' benefits considering specific building scenarios. This paper investigates incorporating moisture dynamics evaluation into early architectural design workflows using the Grasshopper interface of Rhinoceros. This integration offers an advancement beyond conventional building performance simulations provided by current Grasshopper plugins. The paper explores the effectiveness of the newly developed WaterSkater plugin in assessing the hygrometric benefits of using moisture-buffering materials in architecture. This study represents the first application of the plugin, with future studies planned to validate its accuracy and correctness. The plugin discussed in this study allows for integrating materials’ moisture buffering capacity into early-stage architectural design workflows. This step enables designers to strategically select materials that align not only with sustainability objectives and desired U-values but also understand their potential for indoor humidity regulation. The presented plugin enables the incorporation of low-carbon, moisture-buffering materials from the early stages of building design, allowing for a strategic use of their moisture-regulating potential to improve indoor comfort and reduce the need for ventilation and humidity-control mechanical systems.
Global carbon budgets for the built environment
Priore, Yasmine; Habert, Guillaume; Jusselme, Thomas (2024)
The Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment
Stringent limits and reduction strategies paths on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are being defined at different levels to limit global warming. Carbon budgets and impact reduction targets are the main instruments used today to set goals and follow progress across industrial sectors and countries (e.g.: IPCC, Paris Agreement, science-based targets, etc.). In this context, translating global goals to local realities implicates a set of different challenges. Standardized methodologies of allocation can support a target-cascading process. On the other hand, local strategies are not currently designed to directly respond to carbon budgets in a 2050 horizon. The life cycle analysis of buildings implicates an intricate cross-industry and cross-border carbon accounting. For these reasons, effective and aligned targets are needed to support and guide all actors in the construction sector. This chapter aims at addressing these challenges by identifying carbon reduction strategies compliant with a limited carbon budget in a dynamic approach using the Swiss built environment as a case study. This approach allows for the assessment of current best practices in regard to limited budgets and the determination of specific dynamic carbon targets for the building stock. Results show the misalignment of global goals with current practices and present the magnitude of effort that would be required to have a chance to limit global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C. An adequate, interconnected, and interdisciplinary carbon-targets definition is needed to align stringent global climate goals with local climate strategies. The proposed methodology allows for this definition at different scales and sectors in a specific context.

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