Low-Carbon warehousing: Examining impacts of building and intra-logistics design options on energy demand and the CO2 emissions of logistics centers

Abstract

Logistics centers contribute to CO2 emissions in the building and logistics sector andtherefore share a responsibility to decarbonize not only the supply chain. Synergy effects in bothbuilding and intra-logistics should be considered as suitable levers to lower energy demand andrelated CO2 emissions. This research develops firs t with a systemic approach an integrated analyticalmodel for energy calculation and reference building models for different types of logistics centers toprovide basic knowledge and a methodological framework for planners and managers to aid in theselection of different intra-logistics and building design options for optimum energy efficiency. Itthen determines the energy demand in reference building models and performs parameter studies toexamine interrelations and impacts of design options for intra-logistics, building technology, andbuilding skin on energy demand. It combines these to optimized reference building models to showthe extent to which energy and CO2 emission savings can be reached. The results show that it ispossible to significantly lower CO2 emissions. However, there are clear differences between thedifferent types of logistics centers and the impacts of different design options.