Life Cycle Carbon Dioxide Emission Assessment of Housing in Taiwan

2013 ◽  
Vol 479-480 ◽  
pp. 1071-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Sheng Chang ◽  
Kuei Peng Lee
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
Light Weight ◽  
Cycle Simulation ◽  
Use Stage ◽  
Heat Preservation ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Building Designs ◽  
Emission Index

In the building industry, decreasing the CO2 emission not only is an important environmental issue but also an international responsibility in the future. This research analyzed building life cycle CO2 emission and used a building life cycle CO2 emission index (LCCO2). LCCO2 allows us to compare the impacts of different building designs to the environment and finds out the most efficient CO2 reduction strategy. A low floor house life cycle simulation showed that most CO2 emission in the life cycle comes from the daily use stage. Therefore, energy preservation in the daily life is the most important strategy to reduce CO2 emission in a building. Compared with the RC house, the light weight steel house uses more eco-friendly building materials and heat preservation materials. Therefore, the LCCO2 of the light weight steel house is reduced 31.34%. The research also showed that proper increase in the life span of the building also decreases CO2 emission. The light weight steel house is more eco-friendly than the RC house in the buildings life cycle.

scholarly journals A Building Life-Cycle Embodied Performance Index—The Relationship between Embodied Energy, Embodied Carbon and Environmental Impact

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming Hu
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Building Performance ◽  
Impact Categories ◽  
Embodied Carbon ◽  
Unexplored Area ◽  
Environmental Impact Categories ◽  
Building Life Cycle

Knowledge and research tying the environmental impact and embodied energy together is a largely unexplored area in the building industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the practicality of using the ratio between embodied energy and embodied carbon to measure the building’s impact. This study is based on life-cycle assessment and proposes a new measure: life-cycle embodied performance (LCEP), in order to evaluate building performance. In this project, eight buildings located in the same climate zone with similar construction types are studied to test the proposed method. For each case, the embodied energy intensities and embodied carbon coefficients are calculated, and four environmental impact categories are quantified. The following observations can be drawn from the findings: (a) the ozone depletion potential could be used as an indicator to predict the value of LCEP; (b) the use of embodied energy and embodied carbon independently from each other could lead to incomplete assessments; and (c) the exterior wall system is a common significant factor influencing embodied energy and embodied carbon. The results lead to several conclusions: firstly, the proposed LCEP ratio, between embodied energy and embodied carbon, can serve as a genuine indicator of embodied performance. Secondly, environmental impact categories are not dependent on embodied energy, nor embodied carbon. Rather, they are proportional to LCEP. Lastly, among the different building materials studied, metal and concrete express the highest contribution towards embodied energy and embodied carbon.

scholarly journals FACTORS OF THERMODYNAMICAL APPROACH TO BUILDINGS LIFE CYCLE/PASTATO GYVAVIMO CIKLO TERMODINAMINIO VERTINIMO VEIKSNIAI

1996 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Vytautas Martinaitis
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Thermodynamic Evaluation ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Minimum Requirements ◽  
Building Life Cycle

The article suggests that non-industrial buildings in Lithuania consume half the final energy including appr.70% heat produced in electric power plants and boiler-houses. In order to ensure standard heating and ventilation conditions for these buildings in terms of climate parameters of a normal year it would require heat consumption of some 22 TWh. However, the energy is required not only for operation and maintenance of the building (for active microclimatic conditioning systems—AMCS), but also for setting up the building (for passive microclimatic conditioning systems—PMCS). The above input is therefore determined by technological level in the building and building materials industries. Rather exact evaluations show that in the course of several next years already, primary energy consumption used for a building maintenance shall be equal to that used while construction thereof. In terms of a building life cycle, this is a fairly short term. Therefore these buildings in terms of energetic approach make an intensive energy-consumption system. It is hereby suggested to apply an exergic analysis for a life cycle of a building under certain climatic conditions and PMCS and AMCS combinations defined by the local produce technology level. Using solely economical (both direct or derived) criteria for this intention is therefore insufficient, because the reliability of economic forecasts for longer prospect falls below any other forecasts of physical quantities. As an example for this, a globally-ecological evaluation of energetic systems based on thermodynamics is therefore presented, and is characterised by thermo-economic and exergo-economic criteria. Further, the article provides formulas and indices for thermodynamic evaluation of climatic conditions which indicate minimum requirements of exergy for operation of AMCS. Furthermore, MCS operating points and zones characteristic of different climatic regions are provided. Tasks for MCS thermodynamic analysis have been formulated to include the processes of production of building and insulation materials, and construction erection process. These should be considered the first three stages of the above task: indices of present exergic input in production of materials; forecast of potential exergic input in production of materials; thermodynamic optimisation of technological processes and equipment of building materials. It is therefore considered, that the integration of separate exergic loss components of building life cycle into a general optimisation task shall enable establishment of thermodynamically-optimum combination of exergic use in the buildings under concrete climatic conditions. This would launch, apart from economic, social and ecological aspects, an approach for handling strategic issues of construction and energetic interaction.

Comparison of Coastal Green Dwellings' Ecological Strategy Take Seaweed House and Oystershell Loculus for Example

2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 425-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Yu Wang ◽  
Wei Tong
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Ecological Strategy ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
Cultural Origins ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Maximum Saving

With the development of science and technology, rapid urbanization makes the survival of the human environment seriously polluted and destroyed. In the new century, with the issue that how to achieve the maximum saving ,to protect environment, to reduce pollution in the whole building life cycle and to make the harmonious between architecture and nature, Green building operating emerged. Vernacular architecture is an significant type of green building, this paper illustrates Seaweed House in Jiaodong of Shandong province and Oystershell Loculus in Quanzhou of Fujian province to perform a comparative study of cultural origins, building materials and ecological characteristics of the coastal green dwellings£¬in order to use the methods of vernacular architecture for reference to green building.

scholarly journals Comparative Study on Life-Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint of Hybrid, Concrete and Timber Apartment Buildings in Finland

2022 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 774
Author(s):  
Roni Rinne ◽  
Hüseyin Emre Ilgın ◽  
Markku Karjalainen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Building Life Cycle

To date, in the literature, there has been no study on the comparison of hybrid (timber and concrete) buildings with counterparts made of timber and concrete as the most common construction materials, in terms of the life cycle assessment (LCA) and the carbon footprint. This paper examines the environmental impacts of a five-story hybrid apartment building compared to timber and reinforced concrete counterparts in whole-building life-cycle assessment using the software tool, One Click LCA, for the estimation of environmental impacts from building materials of assemblies, construction, and building end-of-life treatment of 50 years in Finland. Following EN 15978, stages of product and construction (A1–A5), use (B1–B6), end-of-life (C1–C4), and beyond the building life cycle (D) were assessed. The main findings highlighted are as following: (1) for A1–A3, the timber apartment had the smallest carbon footprint (28% less than the hybrid apartment); (2) in A4, the timber apartment had a much smaller carbon footprint (55% less than the hybrid apartment), and the hybrid apartment had a smaller carbon footprint (19%) than the concrete apartment; (3) for B1–B5, the carbon footprint of the timber apartment was larger (>20%); (4) in C1–C4, the carbon footprint of the concrete apartment had the lowest emissions (35,061 kg CO2-e), and the timber apartment had the highest (44,627 kg CO2-e), but in D, timber became the most advantageous material; (5) the share of life-cycle emissions from building services was very significant. Considering the environmental performance of hybrid construction as well as its other advantages over timber, wood-based hybrid solutions can lead to more rational use of wood, encouraging the development of more efficient buildings. In the long run, this will result in a higher proportion of wood in buildings, which will be beneficial for living conditions, the environment, and the society in general.

scholarly journals Multi-criteria analysis of the construction technologies in the aspect of sustainable development

2018 ◽  
Vol 219 ◽  
pp. 04001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Gicala ◽  
Anna Sobotka
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Design Work ◽  
Life Cycle Design ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Multi Criteria Analysis ◽  
Building Life Cycle

The complexity of sustainability complicates the design work and requires the implementation of Integrated Life Cycle Design. Due to the need of balance between environmental, social and economic aspects and the multitude of analysis indicators, the assessment of existing buildings is a multi-criteria problem too. The aim of the study is to compare three construction technologies – two traditional solutions and an innovative technology – in the aspect of sustainable development. The assessment was limited to the building envelope materials and included in entirety of 13 environmental, social and economic indicators, characteristic for the first stage of building life cycle. The absence of explicit dominance of one technology over another in terms of these factors was a starting point for the multi-criteria analysis. Based on the comparison of given technologies by WSM and TOPSIS methods, the multi-criteria analysis was carried out and the most advantageous technology was indicated. The results allow for an indirect selection of building materials to fulfil the sustainability requirements for the building.

Energy Saving Research in Building Life Cycle

2011 ◽  
Vol 71-78 ◽  
pp. 3297-3302
Author(s):  
Hong Jun Jia ◽  
Yun Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Building Energy ◽  
Modified Model ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Building Energy Saving ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Consumption Theory

The building energy consumption is one of the biggest components of energy consumption in China. Based on the building life cycle energy consumption theory, this paper proposed a modified model, which extra considered the influence of building planning, design and building materials’ recycle to energy consumption. This paper analyzed every building stage’s energy consumption and provided saving measures. According to the present situation of China, this paper explored new ideas on building energy saving.

Life Cycle Energy Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emission of Residential Building Designs in Beijing

2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 576-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianzheng Gong ◽  
Zuoren Nie ◽  
Zhihong Wang ◽  
Suping Cui ◽  
Feng Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emission ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Building Designs

scholarly journals Mass Timber Building Life Cycle Assessment Methodology for the U.S. Regional Case Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 14034
Author(s):  
Hongmei Gu ◽  
Shaobo Liang ◽  
Francesca Pierobon ◽  
Maureen Puettmann ◽  
Indroneil Ganguly ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Planning Stage ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Mass Timber

The building industry currently consumes over a third of energy produced and emits 39% of greenhouse gases globally produced by human activities. The manufacturing of building materials and the construction of buildings make up 11% of those emissions within the sector. Whole-building life-cycle assessment is a holistic and scientific tool to assess multiple environmental impacts with internationally accepted inventory databases. A comparison of the building life-cycle assessment results would help to select materials and designs to reduce total environmental impacts at the early planning stage for architects and developers, and to revise the building code to improve environmental performance. The Nature Conservancy convened a group of researchers and policymakers from governments and non-profit organizations with expertise across wood product life-cycle assessment, forest carbon, and forest products market analysis to address emissions and energy consumption associated with mass timber building solutions. The study disclosed a series of detailed, comparative life-cycle assessments of pairs of buildings using both mass timber and conventional materials. The methodologies used in this study are clearly laid out in this paper for transparency and accountability. A plethora of data exists on the favorable environmental performance of wood as a building material and energy source, and many opportunities appear for research to improve on current practices.

scholarly journals PARTICULARITIES OF DETERMINING PRIMARY ENERGY NEEDS FOR BUILDING MATERIALS/PIRMINĖS ENERGIJOS POREIKIŲ STATYBINĖMS MEDŽIAGOMS NUSTATYMO YPATUMAI

1997 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Kęstutis Čiuprinskas ◽  
Vytautas Martinaitis
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Energy Requirement ◽  
Technological Processes ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Former Ussr

Civil buildings in Lithuania consume one half of final energy or about 70% of heat generated in thermoelectric and heat power stations. However, energy is necessary not only for exploitation but also for the creation of buildings: manufacture of building materials, transportation and construction. For global energy saving in the construction industry, at the state level, it is important to determine an optimum ratio between energy requirement for building creation and exploitation. Taking into account the durability of buildings for the evaluation of strategic relation ships between energetics and construction industry it is reasonable to use a physical building life cycle energy requirement model, because the reliability of an economical prognosis is usually lower than that in physical processes. In this work generalised ratios are suggested for energy requirement by the main building materials, which can be used in the calculation of a physical building life cycle model. In collecting this information three sources were used, namely: from Lithuania, former USSR and Western countries. In the beginning we hoped that the collected information would show higher energy needs for the production of building materials in Lithuania and other former USSR countries than those in developed countries, where manufacturing technology is more modern, and energy saving measures have been implemented earlier. After collecting more data, it was evident from foreign—literature that in Western countries the energy needs are bigger because they are based on other energy needs estimation levels. In the estimation data of energy needs for the Lithuanian building materials industry the levels of technological processes are not clearly described. In this case an application of such data for a physical model of life cycle cost estimations cannot be used directly. For a more detailed analysis 10 building materials were chosen: silicate brick, ceramic brick, rockwool, polyctirol, cement, timber, steel, glass, concrete, ferro-concrete. Energy requirements are classified according to 4 levels of full technological processes, i.e.: for the main process, for raw materials, for machines and for machines that produce these machines. Taking into account the indetermination of the information of data sources, the values can be recommended only for a tentative evaluation. More precise values can be obtained by a detailed analysis of the Lithuanian industry. For building construction industry prognosis one monitoring for building and insulation material manufacturing processes is necessary taking into account different technological levels and processes.

scholarly journals Circular economy in the construction sector: advancing environmental performance through systemic and holistic thinking

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magnus Sparrevik ◽  
Luitzen de Boer ◽  
Ottar Michelsen ◽  
Christofer Skaar ◽  
Haley Knudson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Sector ◽  
Recursive Structure ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Environmental Effectiveness ◽  
Standards And Regulations ◽  
Management Schemes ◽  
Different Levels

AbstractThe construction sector is progressively becoming more circular by reducing waste, re-using building materials and adopting regenerative solutions for energy production and biodiversity protection. The implications of circularity on construction activities are complex and require the careful evaluation of impacts to select the appropriate path forward. Evaluations of circular solutions and their environmental effectiveness are often performed based on various types of life cycle-based impact assessments. This paper uses systemic thinking to map and evaluate different impact assessment methodologies and their implications for a shift to more circular solutions. The following systemic levels are used to group the methodologies: product (material life cycle declarations and building assessments), organisation (certification and management schemes) and system (policies, standards and regulations). The results confirm that circular economy is integrated at all levels. However, development and structure are not coordinated or governed unidirectionally, but rather occur simultaneously at different levels. This recursive structure is positive if the methods are applied in the correct context, thus providing both autonomy and cohesion in decision making. Methods at lower systemic levels may then improve production processes and stimulate the market to create circular and innovative building solutions, whereas methods at higher systemic levels can be used, for example, by real estate builders, trade organisations and governments to create incentives for circular development and innovation in a broader perspective. Use of the performance methods correctly within an actor network is therefore crucial for successful and effective implementation of circular economy in the construction sector.

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