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PEOPLE@HES-SO – Directory and Skills inventory

PEOPLE@HES-SO
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Schulthess Lucile

Schulthess Lucile

Collaboratrice scientifique HES

Main skills

Energy modeling and simulation

Modélisation des réseaux thermiques

District heating

Simulations numériques

Simulation CFD

Thermodynamique

  • Contact

  • Teaching

  • Publications

  • Conferences

Main contract

Collaboratrice scientifique HES

Desktop: BFA_1B_43

Haute école d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Fribourg
Boulevard de Pérolles 80, 1700 Fribourg, CH
HEIA-FR
BSc HES-SO en Génie mécanique - Haute école d'ingénierie et d'architecture de Fribourg
  • Travaux pratiques de machines thermiques
  • Travaux pratiques de conversion d'énergie

2025

Potential for biogenic carbon storage towards a net-zero built environment in Switzerland
Scientific paper ArODES

Yasmine Dominique Priore, Lucile Schulthess, Sarah Delmenico, Lionel Rinquet, Guillaume Habert, Thomas Jusselme

Sustainable Production and Consumption,  2025, 59, 229-240

Link to the publication

Summary:

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.

2024

The carbon impact of buildins' slabs :
Conference ArODES
hotspots, challenges, and opportunities

Yasmine Priore, Lucile Schulthess, Thomas Jusselme

Proceedings of the 37th PLEA Conference on Sustainable Architecture and Urban Design, 25-28 June 2024, Wroclaw, Poland

Link to the conference

Summary:

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.

2023

Stepwise renovation of buildings :
Conference ArODES
what to refurbish first to minimize life-cycle carbon emissions

Yasmine Priore, Lucile Schulthess, Stefanie Schwab, David Rollo, Thomas Jusselme

Proceedings of cisbat 2023, the built environment in transititon, Hybrid International Scientific Conference, 13-15 September 2023, Lausanne, Switzerland

Link to the conference

Summary:

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.

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