ABSTRACT
Introduction Denmark can in many ways be considered a frontrunner as regards sustainable communities and housing. The housing sector provides high-quality housing for the vast majority of the population and in relation to the environmental perspective of sustainability the Danish Building Regulations ensures that all new buildings have a high energy efficiency standard. Further, the energy supply system has changed since the 1990s to contain a substantial input from renewable energy sources. Denmark is also often mentioned as a frontrunner regarding innovation and regulation within fields such as energy efficiency in buildings, energy retrofitting and smart grid, and scores high when deploying an elaborated approach to sustainable communities (Winston, 2013). However, Denmark is at the same time among the countries with the highest CO2 emissions per capita: in 2013, it ranked 44th out of 208 countries on this indicator (EDGAR, 2015). With a 2013 emission of 7.4 tonnes per capita, Denmark is on a par with the EU28 average, but well above the global average of 5.0. The level of comfort and the number of square metres per person of housing are continuously increasing, which makes the rebound effect a main explanation of why ‘frontrunning’ by itself is not an adequate condition for achieving sustainable housing and communities (GramHanssen, 2013).
