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A life-cycle framework for integrating green building and hazard-resistant design: examining the seismic impacts of buildings with green roofs
Published in Dan M. Frangopol, Hitoshi Furuta, Mitsuyoshi Akiyama, Dan M. Frangopol, Life-Cycle of Structural Systems, 2018
Sarah J. Welsh-Huggins, Abbie B. Liel
We used the process-based life-cycle software SimaPro (Goedkoop et al., 2013) to organise environmental impact calculations for all building materials. Product manufacturing impacts were determined based on unit impacts for the amount of concrete, reinforcing steel and roof materials needed for the initial production of building components. In the post-hazard repairs phase, calculations began with collection of the material quantities for earthquake-related repairs; here, we use these material quantities as inputs for the environmental impact analysis. Table 5 shows an example of manufacturing environmental impacts, for 1 ft3 each of curtain wall glazing and plywood in the post-hazard repair stage. The table presents results for all ten different SimaPro environmental impact categories. The remainder of this study focuses on only the impact from carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents at the life-cycle stages of interest. Carbon dioxide equivalents compare emissions from different greenhouse gases with respect to their contribution to climate change. Embodied carbon is considered here as the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions, converted to CO2 equivalents, required to produce a given material or building product (Werner & Burns, 2012). We refer throughout this study to the embodied carbon from manufacturing products or the CO2 emissions from operating energy consumption and demand as climate change potential (CCP), considered in terms of tons of CO2 equivalents.
Is a Stronger Building also Greener? Influence of Seismic Design Decisions on Building Life-Cycle Economic and Environmental Impacts
Published in Jaap Bakker, Dan M. Frangopol, Klaas van Breugel, Life-Cycle of Engineering Systems, 2017
Figure 2 shows the total embodied carbon associated with upfront production and manufacturing of all structural and nonstructural components, compared to the lateral strength of each building (presented in terms of maximum base shear from pushover analysis). Embodied carbon is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions, converted to CO2 equivalents, required to produce a given material or building product. CO2 equivalents compare emissions from different greenhouse gases with respect to their contribution to climate change. The manufacturing of concrete and steel are carbon-intensive activities that dominate the total embodied carbon of a building. Therefore, material manufacturing for construction of the above-code buildings here leads to higher upfront embodied carbon than for the code-minimum or below-code design variants (currently this study does not include sources of uncertainty in quantification of embodied carbon). The embodied carbon from manufacturing materials for construction of the code-compliant (R = 8) space frame is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from driving a passenger vehicle almost 1,800,000 miles (EPA 2016).
BIM perspectives
Published in James Harty, Tahar Kouider, Graham Paterson, Getting to Grips with BIM, 2015
James Harty, Tahar Kouider, Graham Paterson
Essentially, in construction there are two types of carbon emissions, operational and embodied. Operational carbon emission refers to carbon dioxide emitted during the life of a building. This typically includes the emissions from heating: Embodied carbon refers to carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacture, transport and construction of building materials, together with end of life emissions. So for example, if you are specifying concrete on a project then carbon will have been emitted making that concrete. Their emissions occur during extraction of the raw materials (the cradle), processing in a factory (factory gate), transporting the concrete to a construction site (site). This we refer to as the ‘embodied carbon’.(Lockie 2014)
Adopting cross-laminated timber in architectural design to reduce embodied carbon emission in China based on the diffusion of innovation theory
Published in Building Research & Information, 2023
The building industry consumes large amounts of energy, natural resources and water while also producing large quantities of carbon emissions (Dimoudi & Tompa, 2008). Life cycle carbon from buildings consists of two components: operational carbon and embodied carbon. Embodied carbon is the carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacturing, transportation and construction of building materials; operational carbon is the carbon dioxide emitted during the use of the building, including heating, cooling and lighting (Kang et al., 2015). Even though the embodied carbon of the buildings is lower than the operational carbon, when considering a different time frame, the embodied carbon could become more critical (Gan et al., 2017). Particularly in developing countries such as China, buildings tend to have short lifespans (around 30 years), and the corresponding demolition, rebuilding and waste of building materials would increase the embodied carbon emissions significantly (Zhu et al., 2020). Given that much of the embodied carbon in buildings is driven by material selection made during the design and construction phases (Basbagill et al., 2013), various embodied carbon mitigation strategies focus on minimizing the use of materials and replacing materials and construction products with alternatives with lower carbon supply chains (Giesekam et al., 2016). The use of suitable building materials, such as wood, to minimize the industry’s environmental impact has been a topic of increasing research interest (Wang et al., 2014).
Design of low-carbon and cost-efficient concrete frame buildings: a hybrid optimization approach based on harmony search
Published in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 2023
“Cradle to site” assessment based on emission factors (namely process-based LCA) has been widely adopted to measure embodied carbon in the building pre-use phase (Hong et al. 2015; Roh and Tae 2017). Carbon emissions in this life cycle phase are primarily sourced manufacturing materials, transportation, and on-site activities. Previous studies (Zhang and Zhang 2021a) have indicated that the main structure significantly contributes to embodied carbon which can be reduced by alternative designs. Kim et al. (2015) compared the construction costs and emissions of clay brick, cement brick, and block walls. Dong et al. (2015) and Omar et al. (2014) investigated the embodied emissions of cast-in-situ and precast concrete buildings. Gustavsson and Sathre (2006) indicated that wood-framed buildings were better than concrete buildings in reducing carbon emissions. Zhang and Zheng (2020) compared the emissions of brick masonry, reinforced block masonry, and concrete structures in a mid-rise building. The aforementioned studies focused primarily on comparing and selecting structural schemes in a low-carbon context.
A whole building life-cycle assessment methodology and its application for carbon footprint analysis of U.S. commercial buildings
Published in Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 2023
Hao Zhang, Jie Cai, James E. Braun
The proposed LCA methodology considers environmental impacts associated with raw material extraction, manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance phases, while the demolition-phase impact is neglected. The system boundaries of this LCA study are explicitly listed in Table 4. Two main categories of carbon emissions are considered: embodied and operation-phase carbon. The embodied carbon accounts for the carbon emissions associated with raw material extraction and manufacturing, building construction and maintenance phases. The construction phase analysis estimates the emissions associated with transportation and energy uses involved in construction activities. Equipment replacements for HVAC equipment and light bulbs are considered in the maintenance phase based on the presumed life times of the different buildings and equipment. The operation carbon analysis accounts for the energy used for heating (both gas and electrical), cooling, ventilation, interior or exterior lighting, and other electricity requirements. Electricity and natural gas are the only site energy sources considered.