Evaluation of energy consumption during production and construction of concrete and steel frames of residential buildings

Abstract

There is a growing attention to energy consumption (EC) of buildings during their life cycle. The construction phase has been less considered due to its small share of the EC in buildings life cycle, as well as the lack and inconsistency of data, especially in developing countries. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the EC during production and construction (PAC) of concrete and steel frames of residential buildings. To address the mentioned purpose, the EC during PAC of frames of 14 concrete and steel framed buildings in Iran’s capital city, Tehran, is studied. The findings show that the EC during PAC of concrete frames is about 27% less than steel frames. Comparison of EC during various PAC processes shows that production of steel is the most energy consumed process. As an example, considering total area of residential buildings constructed in Tehran in 2014, replacing steel frames by concrete could lead to 13% energy saving. Moreover, with respect to optimistic and pessimistic evaluated values of EC during PAC of concrete and steel frames of buildings constructed in the mentioned year, about 43% of energy can be saved.