Life cycle energy assessment and carbon dioxide emissions of wall systems for rural houses

Abstract Wall systems have a wide range of embodied energy due to the diversity of materials available. This paper analyzes the expenditure of energy and carbon dioxide emissions in internal and external wall systems (IEWS) of a rural residence of social interest in Cascavel, state of Paraná, Brazil. The methodology proposed by NBR ISO 14040 was used to perform a life-cycle energy assessment (LCEA) and the carbon dioxide emissions assessment (LCCO2A) of these systems. Four scenarios were considered: reinforced concrete structure and ceramic blocks wall system, load-bearing masonry with concrete blocks, steel framing and reinforced concrete walls molded on site. As a result, it was found that it is possible to reduce energy consumption up to 25% by opting for reinforced concrete walls molded on site. In regards to CO2 emission, it was verified that the difference is even greater, being able to reduce emissions by almost 32% when opting for this same scenario.

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Axial elongation in ductile reinforced concrete walls

Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.5459/bnzsee.49.4.305-318 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 49 (4) ◽

pp. 305-318 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Ericson Encina ◽

Yiqiu Lu ◽

Richard S. Henry

Keyword(s):

Reinforced Concrete ◽

Numerical Models ◽

Concrete Walls ◽

Axial Elongation ◽

Vertical Reinforcement ◽

Reinforced Concrete Walls ◽

Wide Range ◽

Floor Systems ◽

Rc Frame Buildings ◽

Global And Local

Axial elongation has been observed during tests of reinforced concrete (RC) members subjected to either monotonic or cyclic loading. The implications of elongating plastic hinges in beams on the seismic performance of RC frame buildings, and in particular the floor systems, has been extensively studied. However, few investigations have addressed axial elongation of RC walls. To expand on the existing knowledge of axial elongation in RC members, the measured axial elongations of 13 previously tested RC walls were investigated. These tests included a wide range of vertical reinforcement ratios, vertical reinforcement layouts, and axial loads. The procedures to estimate wall elongation that were proposed in the Public Comment Draft Amendment No. 3 of the New Zealand Concrete Structures Standard (NZS 3101:2006) were also evaluated and compared against the measured elongations from the tests. The experimental results showed that elongation magnitudes in the analysed walls were between 0.4-0.8% of the wall length at 1.5% lateral drift, and that the elongation equations proposed for NZS 3101:2006 provided an acceptable estimation of the expected elongation in RC walls. Additionally, numerical models were developed using distributed-plasticity fibre-based elements in OpenSees and membrane elements in VecTor2 to verify the ability of these commonly used modelling techniques to capture wall elongation. The numerical simulations were able to represent the global and local behaviour with good accuracy and both models were able to capture the peak elongations. However, the more sophisticated concrete material models in OpenSees allowed the fibre element models to more accurately represent the experimental wall elongations, especially when considering residual elongations.

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RESEARCH PROGRAMME ON SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF REINFORCED CONCRETE WALLS: KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Bulletin of the New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering ◽

10.5459/bnzsee.53.2.54-69 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 53 (2) ◽

pp. 54-69

Author(s):

Alex Shegay ◽

Farhad Dashti ◽

Lucas Hogan ◽

Yiqiu Lu ◽

Arsalan Niroomandi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Reinforced Concrete ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Research Programme ◽

Concrete Walls ◽

Damage And Failure ◽

Reinforced Concrete Walls ◽

Wide Range ◽

Out Of Plane ◽

Assessment Guidelines ◽

Precast Walls

A wide range of reinforced concrete (RC) wall performance was observed following the 2010/2011 Canterbury earthquakes, with most walls performing as expected, but some exhibiting undesirable and unexpected damage and failure characteristics. A comprehensive research programme, funded by the Building Performance Branch of the New Zealand Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, and involving both numerical and experimental studies, was developed to investigate the unexpected damage observed in the earthquakes and provide recommendations for the design and assessment procedures for RC walls. In particular, the studies focused on the performance of lightly reinforced walls; precast walls and connections; ductile walls; walls subjected to bi-directional loading; and walls prone to out-of-plane instability. This paper summarises each research programme and provides practical recommendations for the design and assessment of RC walls based on key findings, including recommended changes to NZS 3101 and the NZ Seismic Assessment Guidelines.

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Comparison of Life Cycle Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Embodied Energy in Four Renewable Electricity Generation Technologies in New Zealand

Environmental Science & Technology ◽

10.1021/es900125e ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 43 (16) ◽

pp. 6406-6413 ◽

Cited By ~ 52

Author(s):

Bridget M. Rule ◽

Zeb J. Worth ◽

Carol A. Boyle

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Life Cycle ◽

New Zealand ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Electricity Generation ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Renewable Electricity ◽

Renewable Electricity Generation

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Analysis and Assessment of the Building Life Cycle. Indicators and Tools for the Early Design Stage

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13116467 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (11) ◽

pp. 6467

Author(s):

Roberto Giordano ◽

Federica Gallina ◽

Benedetta Quaglio

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impact ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Energy Content ◽

Primary Energy ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Design Stage ◽

Early Design Stage ◽

Carbon Dioxide Co2

Construction is a crucial sector in terms of worldwide environmental impacts. Building material production along with transport and demolition are no exception, because in the last decades, they have constantly increased their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Actions and initiatives are therefore important to tackle the relationship between buildings and climate change. Particularly, it is necessary to develop Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools useful to calculate the environmental impact of buildings and to make them accessible to designers and stakeholders acting in the building sector. The article aims to contribute to the international debate about environmental assessment indicators for buildings and the simplified LCA based tools. The Embodied Energy (EE) and the Embodied Carbon (EC) have been investigated. The former, related to primary energy content; the latter, associated with the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions. EE and EC have been used as indicators for the development of a calculation tool named EURECA, for assessing the environmental impact of the building over its life cycle, as defined by the EN 15978:2011 standard. The Solar Decathlon Latin America and Caribbean’s house designed and built by an international academic team has been an opportunity to check the indicators and the tool’s effectiveness.

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Comparison of Carbon Dioxide Emissions of the Ordinary Reinforced Concrete Slab and the Voided Slab System During the Construction Phase: A Case Study of a Residential Building in South Korea

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11133571 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (13) ◽

pp. 3571 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Inkwan Paik ◽

Seunguk Na

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Reinforced Concrete ◽

South Korea ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Building Materials ◽

Concrete Slab ◽

Reinforced Concrete Slab

The construction industry not only consumes a lot of energy but also emits large volumes of carbon dioxide. Most countries have established target reduction values of the carbon dioxide emissions to alleviate environmental burdens and promote sustainable development. The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the construction industry has been taking place in various ways as buildings produce large quantities of the carbon dioxide over their construction life cycle. The aim of this study is to assess and compare the carbon dioxide emissions of an ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the voided slab system applied to a case study involving a commercial-residential complex building in South Korea. Process-based life-cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted to compute the carbon dioxide emissions during the construction phase, which includes all processes from material production to the end of construction. The results indicate that the total CO2 emissions are 257,230 and 218,800 kg CO2 for the ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the voided slab system, respectively. The highest contributor to CO2 reduction is the embodied carbon dioxide emissions of the building materials, which accounts for 34,966 kg CO2. The second highest contributor is the transportation of the building materials, accounting for 3417 kg CO2.

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A Comprehensive Framework for Standardising System Boundary Definition in Life Cycle Energy Assessments

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11060230 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 230

Author(s):

Hossein Omrany ◽

Veronica Soebarto ◽

Jian Zuo ◽

Ruidong Chang

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Energy Use ◽

Embodied Energy ◽

Building Energy Efficiency ◽

System Boundary ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Energy Assessment ◽

Boundary Definition ◽

Comprehensive Framework

This paper aims to propose a comprehensive framework for a clear description of system boundary conditions in life cycle energy assessment (LCEA) analysis in order to promote the incorporation of embodied energy impacts into building energy-efficiency regulations (BEERs). The proposed framework was developed based on an extensive review of 66 studies representing 243 case studies in over 15 countries. The framework consists of six distinctive dimensions, i.e., temporal, physical, methodological, hypothetical, spatial, and functional. These dimensions encapsulate 15 components collectively. The proposed framework possesses two key characteristics; first, its application facilitates defining the conditions of a system boundary within a transparent context. This consequently leads to increasing reliability of obtained LCEA results for decision-making purposes since any particular conditions (e.g., truncation or assumption) considered in establishing the boundaries of a system under study can be revealed. Second, the use of a framework can also provide a meaningful basis for cross comparing cases within a global context. This characteristic can further result in identifying best practices for the design of buildings with low life cycle energy use performance. Furthermore, this paper applies the proposed framework to analyse the LCEA performance of a case study in Adelaide, Australia. Thereafter, the framework is utilised to cross compare the achieved LCEA results with a case study retrieved from literature in order to demonstrate the framework’s capacity for cross comparison. The results indicate the capability of the framework for maintaining transparency in establishing a system boundary in an LCEA analysis, as well as a standardised basis for cross comparing cases. This study also offers recommendations for policy makers in the building sector to incorporate embodied energy into BEERs.

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Estimation of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from a Traditional Nutrient-Rich Cambodian Diet Food Production System Using Life Cycle Assessment

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073660 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3660

Author(s):

Rathna Hor ◽

Phanna Ly ◽

Agusta Samodra Putra ◽

Riaru Ishizaki ◽

Tofael Ahamed ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Co2 Emissions ◽

Production System ◽

Agricultural Production ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Food Production ◽

Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽

Food Production System

Traditional Cambodian food has higher nutrient balances and is environmentally sustainable compared to conventional diets. However, there is a lack of knowledge and evidence on nutrient intake and the environmental greenness of traditional food at different age distributions. The relationship between nutritional intake and environmental impact can be evaluated using carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from agricultural production based on life cycle assessment (LCA). The objective of this study was to estimate the CO2 equivalent (eq) emissions from the traditional Cambodian diet using LCA, starting at each agricultural production phase. A one-year food consumption scenario with the traditional diet was established. Five breakfast (BF1–5) and seven lunch and dinner (LD1–7) food sets were consumed at the same rate and compared using LCA. The results showed that BF1 and LD2 had the lowest and highest emissions (0.3 Mt CO2 eq/yr and 1.2 Mt CO2 eq/yr, respectively). The food calories, minerals, and vitamins met the recommended dietary allowance. The country’s existing food production system generates CO2 emissions of 9.7 Mt CO2 eq/yr, with the proposed system reducing these by 28.9% to 6.9 Mt CO2 eq/yr. The change in each food item could decrease emissions depending on the type and quantity of the food set, especially meat and milk consumption.

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Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions of Agricultural Residue Feedstock for Bioenergy

Applied Sciences ◽

10.3390/app11052009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 2009

Author(s):

Valerii Havrysh ◽

Antonina Kalinichenko ◽

Anna Brzozowska ◽

Jan Stebila

Keyword(s):

Carbon Dioxide ◽

Power Generation ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽

Crop Production ◽

Agricultural Residues ◽

Environmental Indicators ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Low Carbon Economy ◽

Energy Inputs

The depletion of fossil fuels and climate change concerns are drivers for the development and expansion of bioenergy. Promoting biomass is vital to move civilization toward a low-carbon economy. To meet European Union targets, it is required to increase the use of agricultural residues (including straw) for power generation. Using agricultural residues without accounting for their energy consumed and carbon dioxide emissions distorts the energy and environmental balance, and their analysis is the purpose of this study. In this paper, a life cycle analysis method is applied. The allocation of carbon dioxide emissions and energy inputs in the crop production by allocating between a product (grain) and a byproduct (straw) is modeled. Selected crop yield and the residue-to-crop ratio impact on the above indicators are investigated. We reveal that straw formation can consume between 30% and 70% of the total energy inputs and, therefore, emits relative carbon dioxide emissions. For cereal crops, this energy can be up to 40% of the lower heating value of straw. Energy and environmental indicators of a straw return-to-field technology and straw power generation systems are examined.

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