Estimation of Building’s Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Based on Life Cycle Assessment and Building Information Modeling: A Case Study of a Hospital Building in China

Building information modelling (BIM) facilitates data collection throughout the life cycle of infrastructure, yet its implementation in life cycle assessment (LCA) for bridges poses challenges. This article presents a model that integrates BIM and LCA to assess the life cycle carbon emissions (LCCE) of bridges efficiently and accurately. The bridge’s life cycle is divided into four stages: material production, construction, operation and maintenance and demolition. Clearly defined boundaries for carbon emissions are established, and BIM generates the necessary data. A case study bridge evaluates this method, analysing factors like steel, cement and transportation using Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis. The total carbon emissions for the case bridge are 2.44 × 10^7 kg, primarily from material production and transportation (75.7%) and operation (17.6%). The study shows that integrating LCA and BIM improves carbon emission assessments, guiding low-carbon bridge choices and enhancing sustainability efforts towards carbon neutrality.

Calculation of a building's life cycle carbon emissions based on Ecotect and building information modeling

In the context of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, the carbon emission issue in the construction sector has become increasingly salient. Campus buildings, being vital carriers of campus activities, significantly influence the sustainable development of the entire campus via their carbon emission profiles. To comprehensively evaluate the life cycle carbon emissions of typical campus public buildings, this study utilizes Building Information Models(BIM) to gather data on material and energy consumption at all stages, namely raw material procurement, construction, operation, and demolition of campus buildings. A life cycle carbon emission model for a building at a university in Hangzhou is constructed to calculate and analyze the carbon emission characteristics and intensities of each stage. The results indicate that the building in this project has a life cycle carbon emission of 15,718.97 tCO₂e. Through building material recycling and greening measures, a carbon emission reduction of 1,311.48 tCO₂e is attained. After accounting for carbon emission reduction, the life cycle carbon emission intensity of the project building is 1,884.74 kgCO₂e/m². The carbon emissions during the operation phase account for 85.01% of the total life cycle, primarily due to the high energy consumption of the HVAC system during operation. Moreover, the carbon emissions in the production stage of construction materials account for 18.36% of the total life cycle, which is mainly associated with the quantities of steel bars and concrete required for the project construction. This research offers a reference for the low-carbon development of campus buildings and facilitates the construction industry's shift towards green and low-carbon development.

Integrated management of building materials in life cycle carbon emissions is an issue problem in carbon emissions management of low carbon buildings. Considering function demand of carbon emissions integrated management of building materials, the information management system is established with building information modeling (BIM) as technical core and B/S as the network architecture, based on the life cycle theory. This study shows that integrated information management system of building materials carbon emissions can achieve exchange and sharing information, and collaboration work among different participants in different stage of building materials whole life cycle, and realize the integrated management of building materials in life cycle carbon emissions.

The life-cycle carbon emissions (LCCE) assessment of dairy barns is crucial for identifying low-carbon transition pathways and promoting the sustainable development of the dairy industry. We applied a life cycle assessment approach integrated with building information modeling and EnergyPlus to establish a full life cycle inventory of the material quantities and energy consumption for dairy barns. The LCCE was quantified from the production to end-of-life stages using the carbon equivalent of dairy barns (CEDB) as the functional unit, expressed in kg CO2e head−1 year−1. A carbon emission assessment model was developed based on the “building–process–energy” framework. The LCCE of the open barn and the lower profile cross-ventilated (LPCV) barn were 152 kg CO2e head−1 year−1 and 229 kg CO2e head−1 year−1, respectively. Operational carbon emissions (OCE) accounted for the largest share of LCCE, contributing 57% and 74%, respectively. For embodied carbon emissions (ECE), the production of building materials dominated, representing 91% and 87% of the ECE, respectively. Regarding carbon mitigation strategies, the use of extruded polystyrene boards reduced carbon emissions by 45.67% compared with stone wool boards and by 36% compared with polyurethane boards. Employing a manure pit emptying system reduced carbon emissions by 76% and 74% compared to manure scraping systems. Additionally, the adoption of clean electricity resulted in a 33% reduction in OCE, leading to an overall LCCE reduction of 22% for the open barn and 26% for the LPCV barn. This study introduces the CEDB to evaluate low-carbon design strategies for dairy barns, integrating building layout, ventilation systems, and energy sources in a unified assessment approach, providing valuable insights for the low-carbon transition of agricultural buildings.

China is entering a new era characterized by carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and the construction industry, which accounts for a high proportion of social carbon emissions, urgently needs a method to calculate and predict building carbon emissions in advance. This study proposes a method for calculating the life cycle carbon emissions (LCCEs) of buildings based on building information modeling (BIM) technology. The method uses a BIM universal data framework to establish a building carbon emission calculation model and a building carbon emission factor database instance. Taking prefabricated construction projects as an example, it is compared with the traditional calculation method. The results show that the method can more accurately predict building carbon emissions and provide methods and a basis for the construction industry to control carbon emissions in advance.

Rethinking system boundaries of the life cycle carbon emissions of buildings

The goal of double carbon reflects the new goals and requirements of China’s entry into a new development stage. In this regard, the construction industry, as a large producer of carbon emissions, should focus on emission reduction. In the whole life cycle of buildings, the carbon emission intensity in the physicochemical stage is the largest, so we should focus on the carbon emission in the physicochemical stage. Compared with the cast-in-situ concrete floor slab, the bidirectional prestressed precast hollow slab (BPPHS) has the characteristics of environment-friendly under the condition of meeting the building stress, and the manufacturing process of precast floor slab is more standardized, which can give full play to the performance of components. Based on BIM (Building Information Modeling) and LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) theory, and in the case of tram transportation, this paper studies the carbon emission of prefabricated hollow floor slab used in prefabricated buildings in the building stage. The research shows that the use of BPPHS reduces the carbon emission of 197,332.81 kg in the whole physicochemical stage, and the emission reduction rate is 46.52% compared with the cast-in-place slab. Compared with the ordinary prefabricated laminated plate, the emission reduction rate reaches 45.40%; The carbon emission sources in the materialization stage of prefabricated buildings are divided into production stage, transportation stage and construction stage. The carbon emission reduction in each stage accounts for 42.29%, 46.18% and 51.08%, respectively, in each stage of cast-in-situ floor slab. Compared with ordinary precast slab, the emission reduction rates of each stage are 34.67%, 53.60% and 47.84%, respectively. The emission reduction potential of BPPHS is very considerable. It can not only promote the development of prefabricated buildings but also have lower carbon than conventional precast slab. The study provides new ideas for reducing building carbon emissions, which will also provide reference for industry entrepreneurs and relevant governments to realize low-carbon economy and sustainable development.

The integrated description of the building geometry and the element attributes of the building information model (BIM) can reduce the effort needed to acquire data for life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) at each design stage while supporting their potential for analyzing life cycle performances and feeding back to the design process. To support this, several methods and tools have been proposed that aim to obtain the life cycle performances of buildings following the level of model fidelity with the life cycle inventory (LCI) database at different scales. However, inconsistencies in decision-making caused by regional differences in LCA/LCC data sources, benchmarks, and building standards cannot be ignored. In this study, a scalable LCA/LCC method integrated with the BIM platform is proposed for the whole green building design process in the Chinese context, and it is implemented with a developed tool based on Revit. A national-/regional-specified database of building elements and materials is established. Referring to China’s carbon-neutral target and relevant standards for green buildings, the baseline values are deduced, and a reference building is defined accordingly to facilitate the evaluation and improvement of the design scheme. According to the Assessment Standard for Green Building (GB50378-2019) and the survey of architectural design practices in China, the key parameters at different design stages are defined. The method and tool are demonstrated using the case study of a school building, analyzing its life cycle carbon emissions and life cycle costs throughout the design process. The results show that the proposed method can facilitate the improvement of the scheme at different design stages and that it can cope with different data accuracies and different LODs in the building information model in the Chinese green building design process. Lastly, the uncertainties raised by the data quality and time-associated factors are discussed.

Building-information-modeling enabled life cycle assessment, a case study on carbon footprint accounting for a residential building in China

<p indent="0mm">This paper studies the calculation method of carbon emissions throughout the life cycle of steel materials covering all stages of manufacturing, transportation, installation, service, and recycling. Taking steel pipelines as an example, this paper explores the impact of corrosion protection on the life cycle carbon emissions and annual average carbon emissions of steel materials. A carbon emission calculation method for all links in the life cycle of engineering steel materials in corrosive environments has been established. In addition to “carbon emissions per unit GDP (carbon emission intensity),” another intensity index is proposed as “life cycle average annual carbon emissions (carbon emissions per unit time).” This intensity index can constrain the life cycle carbon footprint in the time dimension. It is the first to quantify the important role of corrosion protection in controlling carbon emissions from steel materials at home and abroad. Through. Using appropriate anticorrosion technology, steel pipelines can reduce emissions by more than 60% in typical chemical production environments, more than 83% in oil and gas field environments, more than 50% in long-distance pipelines, and more than 28% in urban gas pipeline networks. This study is important in developing low-carbon corrosion control methods and improving corrosion protection, which controls the life cycle carbon emissions and annual average carbon emissions of steel materials, thereby providing a new perspective for the corrosion protection design and engineering implementation of steel structures. Consequently, it provides a new methodology for reducing carbon emissions of steel materials.

The development of new energy vehicles is an effective measure to reduce carbon emissions from transportation. However, existing studies generally lack a comprehensive analysis of carbon emissions from new energy vehicles. Based on the life cycle assessment method, this study establishes an automobile life cycle carbon emission accounting method and calculates the life cycle carbon emissions of four types of new energy vehicles; it also identifies the important processes and key impact parameters of carbon emissions for the life cycle carbon emissions of new energy vehicles. The results show that pure electric vehicles equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries have the lowest life cycle carbon emissions, with a value of 263.45 g CO2-eq/km. Purchased energy sources, such as electricity and hydrogen, are the hotspots of new energy vehicle life cycle carbon emissions and have the greatest impact on new energy vehicle carbon emissions. With the upgrading of power generation and hydrogen production technologies in the future, the carbon emissions of new energy vehicles are expected to be further reduced. This study can provide effective guidance for the development of new energy vehicles in China.

Purpose Infill materials play a pivotal role in determining buildings’ life cycle costing (LCC) and environmental impacts. International standards prescribe LCC and life cycle assessments (LCA) to assess materials’ economic and environmental sustainability. The existing methods of LCC and LCA are tedious and time-consuming, reducing their practical application. This study sought to integrate LCC and LCA with building information modeling (BIM) to develop a swift and efficient approach for evaluating the life cycle performance of infill materials. Design/methodology/approach The BIM model for a case study was prepared using Autodesk Revit®, and the study included four infill materials (lightweight aggregate concrete block (LECA), autoclaved cellular concrete (AAC), concrete masonry and bricks). LCC was conducted using Revit® and Autodesk Insight 360® to estimate costs incurred across different project phases. LCA was conducted using “One Click LCA®,” a BIM-based platform featuring a comprehensive material inventory. Carbon emissions, acidification, and eutrophication were chosen as environmental impact factors for LCA. Findings LECA was the preferred choice due to its lower cost and environmental impact. Its lifetime cost of $440,618 was 5.4% lower than bricks’, with 2.8% lower CO2 emissions than AAC’s, which were second-place options, respectively. LECA had 6.4 and 27% lower costs than concrete blocks, and AAC’s carbon emissions were 32 and 58% lower than concrete blocks and bricks, respectively. Originality/value BIM has been employed for life cycle analysis in existing literature, but its efficacy in evaluating the lifetime costs and environmental impacts of infill materials remains unexplored. The current study presents a BIM-based approach for conducting LCC and LCA of infill materials, facilitating informed decision-making during the planning phase and promoting sustainable construction practices.

Development of an automated estimator of life-cycle carbon emissions for residential buildings: A case study in Nanjing, China

Optimal design of building envelope towards life cycle performance: Impact of considering dynamic grid emission factors