scholarly journals Residential Construction with a Focus on Evaluation of the Life Cycle of Buildings

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 524
Author(s):  
Eduard Hromada ◽  
Stanislav Vitasek ◽  
Jakub Holcman ◽  
Renata Schneiderova Heralova ◽  
Tomas Krulicky

The article focuses on highlighting the role of life cycle costing (LCC) in the preparatory and implementation phase of residential projects. It involves the evaluation of several investment scenarios in the pre-investment phase, the choice between variants of the design of the entire building or its parts, and the choice of variants of structures and equipment with acceptable parameters. An innovative method of evaluating the life cycle of buildings is described in the article. This method was tested in selected residential projects realized by Skanska in the Czech Republic. Experience from construction practice shows that the choice of variants, constructions, or equipment of buildings only on the basis of the lowest acquisition costs (lowest bid prices) is wrong. The LCC calculation tool has been designed to model life cycle costs of individual variants of construction designs with different input parameters. It is possible to analyze the components or equipment that have the greatest impact on total life cycle costs. The article presents a tool that evaluates the long-term economic efficiency of the proposed residential buildings in terms of analysis of life cycle costs. The article will also expand the knowledge of the professional and general public about the importance of examining investment and operating costs already in the phase of construction preparation.

Buildings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Daniel Satola ◽  
Martin Röck ◽  
Aoife Houlihan-Wiberg ◽  
Arild Gustavsen

Improving the environmental life cycle performance of buildings by focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the building life cycle is considered a crucial step in achieving global climate targets. This paper provides a systematic review and analysis of 75 residential case studies in humid subtropical and tropical climates. The study investigates GHG emissions across the building life cycle, i.e., it analyses both embodied and operational GHG emissions. Furthermore, the influence of various parameters, such as building location, typology, construction materials and energy performance, as well as methodological aspects are investigated. Through comparative analysis, the study identifies promising design strategies for reducing life cycle-related GHG emissions of buildings operating in subtropical and tropical climate zones. The results show that life cycle GHG emissions in the analysed studies are mostly dominated by operational emissions and are the highest for energy-intensive multi-family buildings. Buildings following low or net-zero energy performance targets show potential reductions of 50–80% for total life cycle GHG emissions, compared to buildings with conventional energy performance. Implementation of on-site photovoltaic (PV) systems provides the highest reduction potential for both operational and total life cycle GHG emissions, with potential reductions of 92% to 100% and 48% to 66%, respectively. Strategies related to increased use of timber and other bio-based materials present the highest potential for reduction of embodied GHG emissions, with reductions of 9% to 73%.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-48
Author(s):  
Stephen M. Hubbard

This article examines the implementation of a novel national infrastructure bank (NIB) which coins or “makes” U.S. currency to provide capital for infrastructure loans. This approach eliminates bond expense while reducing long-term life cycle costs caused by deferred maintenance and construction inflation. It also addresses the three main issues that have blocked prior NIB proposals by providing a near zero-cost source of capital, reducing the total size of government employment, and isolating funding from national politics while reducing costs by US$75 to US$220 billion and creating up to three million or more jobs annually.


Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Mareev ◽  
Dirk Sauer

The overhead catenary truck is an interesting technology for long-haul transportation with heavy-duty trucks because it can combine the advantage of energy supply via catenary while driving and the flexibility of a battery truck on routes without catenary using the traction battery. This study investigates the energy consumptions of overhead catenary trucks on German highways and considers different configurations for the traction battery and catenary power system. Afterwards the life cycle costs of overhead catenary trucks are calculated for a specified long-haul transportation scenario and the results are compared to battery electric truck and diesel truck using the findings of a previous study by the authors. The energy consumption of the considered overhead catenary trucks is approximately equal to that of a battery electric truck but only about a half of the equivalent energy consumption of a conventional diesel truck. According to the cost assumptions in this study, the total life cycle costs of overhead catenary trucks can be in the range of the conventional diesel truck, showing the competitiveness of this alternative truck technology.


2016 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 261-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Munir D. Nazzal ◽  
Md. Tanvir Iqbal ◽  
Sang Soo Kim ◽  
Ala R. Abbas ◽  
Moses Akentuna ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Emily S Darling ◽  
David Shiffman ◽  
Isabelle M. Côté ◽  
Joshua A Drew

Twitter is a micro-blogging social media platform for short messages that can have a long-term impact on how scientists create and publish ideas. We investigate the usefulness of twitter in the development and distribution of scientific knowledge. At the start of the 'life cycle' of a scientific publication, twitter provides a large virtual department of colleagues that can help to rapidly generate, share and refine new ideas. As ideas become manuscripts, twitter can be used as an informal arena for the pre-review of works in progress. Finally, tweeting published findings can communicate research to a broad audience of other researchers, decision makers, journalists and the general public that can amplify the scientific and social impact of publications. However, there are limitations, largely surrounding issues of intellectual property and ownership, inclusiveness and misrepresentations of science ‘sound bites’. Nevertheless, we believe twitter is a useful social media tool that can provide a valuable contribution to scientific publishing in the 21st century.


Author(s):  
E. J. Bentz ◽  
C. B. Bentz ◽  
T. D. O’Hora

Abstract This paper provides a comparative assessment of low-level radioactive waste (LLW) life-cycle costs for U.S. commercial disposal facilities. This assessment includes both currently operational facilities and planned commercial facilities. After identifying the individual facility’s operational period, current or planned capacity, and historical disposal volumes (where applicable), the paper describes the respective facilities’ waste acceptance criteria, anticipated waste characteristics, and disposal technologies employed. A brief identification of key components of cost categories that constitute life-cycle cost for the disposal facilities is provided, as well as an identification of factors that affect life-cycle cost. A more specific comparison of certain life-cycle cost components for the disposal facilities is provided, with regard to U.S. LLW disposal volumes and characteristics. Similarities and differences in total life-cycle cost and life-cycle category-specific costs among the U.S. facilities are presented and discussed. The data presented reveals that: • No new LLW commercial disposal facilities have been sited in the U.S. since 1988, and that siting of LLW disposal facilities in the U.S. has become increasingly difficult and contentious, necessitating long lead times and significant up-front costs — without any certainty of success. • Overall, life-cycle costs for LLW disposal at U.S. commercial facilities have increased significantly over time, reflecting increased regulatory compliance requirements, state-imposed access fees and taxes, local community hosting incentive costs, and cost escalation inherent in delays in establishing facilities or modifying existing licensed facilities. • Life-cycle costs are also significantly affected by the nature of the engineered isolation technology employed, reflecting the geologic characteristics of the siting location and the activity levels of the wastes accepted. • Since many of the newly-planned facilities anticipate receiving lower total volumes with an increasingly greater percentage of higher activity wastes (than historical volumes disposed) and are to be sited in more ecologically sensitive geologic regions, they will require more comprehensive — and hence more expensive — engineered isolation technologies. As a result, currently planned facilities are anticipated to experience significantly higher total life-cycle costs than existing operational facilities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 171 ◽  
pp. 96-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Vuik ◽  
Bas W. Borsje ◽  
Pim W.J.M. Willemsen ◽  
Sebastiaan N. Jonkman

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