scholarly journals A Passive Wood-Based Building in Slovakia: Exploring the Life Cycle Impact

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1613
Author(s):  
Rozália Vaňová ◽  
Rastislav Igaz ◽  
Miroslav Němec ◽  
Jaroslava Štefková ◽  
Jozef Štefko
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Foam Glass ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
The Impact

The aim of the study is to point out the burden of passive wood-based buildings throughout the life cycle from the environmental point of view to better understand the consequences and importance of building design in Slovakia. The analysis was carried out according to the Life Cycle Assessment methodology. The results were calculated by the CML-IA baseline method. The impacts of the product stage and operational energy use were the highest throughout the considered life cycle. Substances contributing to eleven impact categories were identified. Foundations, especially foam glass, were found to bear the majority of the impact of the overall construction materials. The normalization category showed considerable impact on marine aquatic ecotoxicity mainly due to building energy consumption over the course of 50 years. Loads connected to the replacement stage were the third highest. The study also proved high demand on elements of photovoltaics.

scholarly journals Environmental and Economic Prioritization of Building Energy Refurbishment Strategies with Life-Cycle Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3914
Author(s):  
Xabat Oregi ◽  
Rufino Javier Hernández ◽  
Patxi Hernandez
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Service Life ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Net Energy ◽  
Life Cycle Approach ◽  
Life Cycle Assessment Methodology ◽  
Impact Indicator ◽  
Sensitivity Assessment ◽  
The Impact

An increasing number of studies apply life-cycle assessment methodology to assess the impact of a new building or to prioritize between different building refurbishment strategies. Among the different hypotheses to consider during the application of this methodology, the selection of the impact indicator is critical, as this choice will completely change the interpretation of the results. This article proposes applying four indicators that allow analysing the results of a refurbishment project of a residential building with the life-cycle approach: non-renewable primary energy use reduction (NRPER), net energy ratio (NER), internal rate of return (IRR), and life-cycle payback (LC-PB). The combination of environmental and economic indicators when evaluating the results has allowed to prioritize among the different strategies defined for this case study. Furthermore, an extensive sensitivity assessment reflects the high uncertainty of some of the parameters and their high influence on the final results. To this end, new hypotheses related to the following parameters have been considered: reference service life of the building, estimated service life of material, operational energy use, conversion factor, energy price, and inflation rate. The results show that the NRPE use reduction value could vary up to −44%. The variation of the other indicators is also very relevant, reaching variation rates such as 100% in the NER, 450% in the IRR, and 300% in the LC-PB. Finally, the results allow to define the type of input or hypothesis that influences each indicator the most, which is relevant when calibrating the prioritization process for the refurbishment strategy.

scholarly journals Implementation of BIM Modelling and Simulation Tools in Reducing Annual Energy Consumption of Multifamily Dwellings

2020 ◽  
Vol 170 ◽  
pp. 01002
Author(s):  
Subbarao Yarramsetty ◽  
MVN Siva Kumar ◽  
P Anand Raj
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Rotational Angle ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
Simulation Tools ◽  
Efficient Option

In current research, building modelling and energy simulation tools were used to analyse and estimate the energy use of dwellings in order to reduce the annual energy use in multifamily dwellings. A three-story residential building located in Kabul city was modelled in Revit and all required parameters for running energy simulation were set. A Total of 126 experiments were conducted to estimate annual energy loads of the building. Different combinations from various components such as walls, roofs, floors, doors, and windows were created and simulated. Ultimately, the most energy efficient option in the context of Afghan dwellings was figured out. The building components consist of different locally available construction materials currently used in buildings in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the best energy efficient option was simulated by varying, building orientation in 15-degree increments and glazing area from 10% to 60% to find the most energy efficient combination. It was found that combination No. 48 was best option from energy conservation point of view and 120-degree rotational angle from north to east, of the existing building was the most energy-efficient option. Also, it was observed that 60% glazing area model consumed 24549 kWh more electricity compared to the one with 10% glazing area.

scholarly journals Strategies to Improve the Energy Performance of Buildings: A Review of Their Life Cycle Impact

Buildings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia MIRABELLA ◽  
Martin RÖCK ◽  
Marcella Ruschi Mendes SAADE ◽  
Carolin SPIRINCKX ◽  
Marc BOSMANS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Operational Energy

Globally, the building sector is responsible for more than 40% of energy use and it contributes approximately 30% of the global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. This high contribution stimulates research and policies to reduce the operational energy use and related GHG emissions of buildings. However, the environmental impacts of buildings can extend wide beyond the operational phase, and the portion of impacts related to the embodied energy of the building becomes relatively more important in low energy buildings. Therefore, the goal of the research is gaining insights into the environmental impacts of various building strategies for energy efficiency requirements compared to the life cycle environmental impacts of the whole building. The goal is to detect and investigate existing trade-offs in current approaches and solutions proposed by the research community. A literature review is driven by six fundamental and specific research questions (RQs), and performed based on two main tasks: (i) selection of literature studies, and (ii) critical analysis of the selected studies in line with the RQs. A final sample of 59 papers and 178 case studies has been collected, and key criteria are systematically analysed in a matrix. The study reveals that the high heterogeneity of the case studies makes it difficult to compare these in a straightforward way, but it allows to provide an overview of current methodological challenges and research gaps. Furthermore, the most complete studies provide valuable insights in the environmental benefits of the identified energy performance strategies over the building life cycle, but also shows the risk of burden shifting if only operational energy use is focused on, or when a limited number of environmental impact categories are assessed.

Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Life Cycle of CdTe Photovoltaics

2005 ◽  
Vol 895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vasilis Fthenakis ◽  
Hyung Chul Kim
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Solar Irradiation ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Energy Payback ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Total Life

AbstractThe life cycle of the thin film CdTe PV modules in the U.S. have been investigated based on materials and energy inventories for a commercial 25 MW/yr production plant. The energy payback times (EPBT) of these modules are 0.75 years and the GHG emissions are 18 gCO2-eq/kWh for average U.S. solar irradiation conditions. Adding the impact of an optimized ground-level balance of system (BOS), result in a total EPBT of 1.2 years and total life-cycle GHG emissions of 24 gCO2-eq/kWh.

scholarly journals The applicability of different energy performance calculation methods for building life cycle environmental optimization

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Kiss ◽  
ZS. Szalay
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Computational Time ◽  
Calculation Methods ◽  
Apartment House ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Time Accuracy ◽  
Building Life Cycle

Building life cycle assessment is getting more and more attention within the topic of environmental impact caused by the built environment. Although more and more research focus on the embodied impact of buildings, the investigation of the operational energy use still needs attention. The majority of the building stock still does not comply with the nearly zero energy requirements. Also, in case of retrofitting, when most of the embodied impact is already spent on the existing structures (and so immutable), the importance of the operational energy rises. There are several methods to calculate the energy performance of buildings covering the range from simplified seasonal methods to detailed hourly energy simulations. Not only the accuracy of the calculations, but the computational time can be significantly different within the methods. The latter is especially important in case of optimization, when there is limited time to perform one calculation. Our research shows that the use of different calculation techniques can lead to different optima for environmental impacts in case of retrofitting. In this paper we compare these calculation methods with focus on computational time, accuracy and applicability to environmental optimization of buildings. We present the results in a case study of the retrofitting of a middle-sized apartment house in Hungary.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment and Environmental Valuation of Biochar Production: Two Case Studies in Belgium

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Rajabi Hamedani ◽  
Tom Kuppens ◽  
Robert Malina ◽  
Enrico Bocci ◽  
Andrea Colantoni ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Pig Manure ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Life Cycle Perspective ◽  
The Impact

It is unclear whether the production of biochar is economically feasible. As a consequence, firms do not often invest in biochar production plants. However, biochar production and application might be desirable from a societal perspective as it might entail net environmental benefits. Hence, the aim of this work has been to assess and monetize the environmental impacts of biochar production systems so that the environmental aspects can be integrated with the economic and social ones later on to quantify the total return for society. Therefore, a life cycle analysis (LCA) has been performed for two potential biochar production systems in Belgium based on two different feedstocks: (i) willow and (ii) pig manure. First, the environmental impacts of the two biochar production systems are assessed from a life cycle perspective, assuming one ton of biochar as the functional unit. Therefore, LCA using SimaPro software has been performed both on the midpoint and endpoint level. Biochar production from willow achieves better results compared to biochar from pig manure for all environmental impact categories considered. In a second step, monetary valuation has been applied to the LCA results in order to weigh environmental benefits against environmental costs using the Ecotax, Ecovalue, and Stepwise approach. Consequently, sensitivity analysis investigates the impact of variation in NPK savings and byproducts of the biochar production process on monetized life cycle assessment results. As a result, it is suggested that biochar production from willow is preferred to biochar production from pig manure from an environmental point of view. In future research, those monetized environmental impacts will be integrated within existing techno-economic models that calculate the financial viability from an investor’s point of view, so that the total return for society can be quantified and the preferred biochar production system from a societal point of view can be identified.

scholarly journals Comparison of the Applied Measures on the Simulated Scenarios for the Sustainable Building Construction through Carbon Footprint Emissions—Case Study of Building Construction in Serbia

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4688
Author(s):  
Marina Nikolić Topalović ◽  
Milenko Stanković ◽  
Goran Ćirović ◽  
Dragan Pamučar
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Impact

Research was conducted to indicate the impact of the increased flow of thermal insulation materials on the environment due to the implementation of the new regulations on energy efficiency of buildings. The regulations on energy efficiency of buildings in Serbia came into force on 30 September 2012 for all new buildings as well as for buildings in the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction. For that purpose, the carbon footprint was analyzed in three scenarios (BS, S1 and S2) for which the quantities of construction materials and processes were calculated. The life cycle analysis (LCA), which is the basis for analyzing the carbon life cycle (LCACO2), was used in this study. Carbon Calculator was used for measuring carbon footprint, and URSA program to calculate the operational energy. This study was done in two phases. In Phase 1, the embodied carbon was measured to evaluate short-term effects of the implementation of the new regulations. Phase 2 included the first 10 years of building exploitation to evaluate the long-term effects of the new regulations. The analysis was done for the period of 10 years, further adjustments to the regulations regarding energy efficiency of the buildings in Serbia are expected in accordance with EU directives. The study shows that, in the short-run, Scenario BS has the lowest embodied carbon. In the long-run, after 3.66 years, Scenario S2 becomes a better option regarding the impact on the environment. The study reveals the necessity to include embodied carbon together with the whole life carbon to estimation the impact of a building on the environment.

scholarly journals Retrofitting Buildings: Embodied & Operational Energy Use in English Housing Stock

Proceedings ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (15) ◽  
pp. 1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adnan Hossain ◽  
Monjur Mourshed
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Mineral Wool ◽  
Energy Model ◽  
Expanded Polystyrene ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Insulation Materials ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sheep Wool

This study is aimed at assessing the impact of the insulation refurbishment of the English housing stock on the embodied energy needed for the various refurbishment scenarios and their corresponding operational energy use reductions. An embodied energy model comprising 22 million homes has been constructed, enabling the assessment and comparison of operational and embodied energy use due to the insulation refurbishment of various applicable building elements. Results indicate that mineral wool, sheep wool and expanded polystyrene (EPS) are the optimum insulation materials for cavity walls, cold pitch roofs and warm pitched roofs, respectively.

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