Carbon Footprint Of Buildings Research Articles

Performance assessment of tall building-integrated wind turbines for power generation

In response to the gradual degradation of the natural environment, there is a growing interest to advance the development of sustainable buildings, in which renewable energy technologies are often incorporated to strategically minimize the carbon footprint of buildings. Pearl River Tower, a 71-storey tall building in Guangzhou, China, was designed to be the most energy efficient tall building in the world. In addition to a series of energy-efficient measures, the most eye-catching innovation in the design of Pearl River Tower is the deployment of four wind turbines installed in four openings in the tall building for power generation. This study aims to provide a performance assessment of these tall building-integrated wind turbines. At the first step, a 1:150 scaled wind tunnel testing is carried out to experimentally assess the wind speed amplification effects inside the four openings. Comparative analysis and discussions corresponding to four different cases are presented. At the second step, the results from the wind tunnel testing, in conjunction with the statistical analysis results of long-term meteorological wind data recorded in Guangzhou, are applied for the performance assessment of these wind turbines for power generation. The outcomes of this study are expected to provide useful information for architects and engineers involved in the design of sustainable tall buildings.

北京市住宅建筑生命周期碳足迹

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 北京市住宅建筑生命周期碳足迹 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201504070695 作者: 作者单位: 中国科学院生态环境研究中心,中国科学院生态环境研究中心 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 中国科学院战略性先导科技专项（XDA05140200） Life cycle carbon footprint of residential buildings in Beijing Author: Affiliation: Research center of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Research center of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:从生命周期角度看，建筑碳足迹与能源和建材生产系统具有密切关系。随着技术的进步和节能政策的推进，中国能源的生产和使用，以及建材生产过程中的环境排放都随着时间在持续降低，这将间接地影响到建筑的环境表现。依据1990-2010年期间每5a的中国能源与建材生命周期清单数据，对北京市20年间住宅建筑系统开展生命周期评价和碳足迹核算，以揭示北京市住宅建筑系统的环境负荷变化特征。结果表明，北京市住宅建筑生命周期碳足迹随时间推移呈现降低趋势，主要来自能源系统和建材生产系统的碳减排贡献。不同结构建筑的碳足迹尽管有差异，但也呈现了相似的下降趋势。从生命周期阶段看，建筑碳足迹主要体现在建筑使用阶段和建材生产阶段。尽管建筑使用阶段的节能对于降低建筑生命周期碳足迹具有重要贡献，但节能在经济成本及环境成本方面而言是有限度的。在可持续的环境政策管理制定中，应从生命周期角度，统筹考虑协调各行业减碳的协调发展。论文同时也验证了在生命周期评价中考虑时间变量将有助于更好地利用生命周期评价结果支持环境可持续管理。结论对于城市规划的政策制定、量化环境表现是有益的。 Abstract:The carbon footprint of buildings relates to the energy system and building material production system from the perspective of life cycle. With the advancement of innovations in technology and energy conservation policies, emissions related to energy production and use as well as the production of building materials have been reducing in China. Consequently, this will influence the environmental performance of buildings indirectly. In this study, the life cycle carbon footprint of residential buildings in Beijing was calculated for the past 20 years, based on life cycle inventory databases in the context of energy and building materials, to determine the change in environmental performance of residential buildings. The results show that the carbon footprint in Beijing exhibited a decreasing trend, mainly as a result of carbon reduction in the energy mix and improvements in the building material production system. The carbon footprints of different structures also exhibited decreasing trends, although they varied in numbers. Considering life cycle stages, the use phase of buildings dominated the carbon footprint profile, which is mainly attributed to energy use. Although energy saving in the use phase was strongly correlated to the reduction of the carbon footprint of buildings, it had a limit in context of both economic cost and environmental cost. The coordination of various industrial sectors, such as energy production and material production industries should be paid sufficient attention while making policies for carbon reduction. Furthermore, as shown by the results, it is necessary to integrate the time parameter in life cycle assessment more efficient sustainable environmental management. The conclusions drawn from this study will be helpful for measuring the environmental performance in the policymaking of urban planning. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

Energy and Environmental Evaluation of Non-Transparent Constructions of Building Envelope for Wooden Houses

The contribution of embodied energy (EE) and greenhouse gas emissions to building materials and structures has been recognized as significant, especially for nearly-zero energy-efficient buildings. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the composition of non-transparent structures of building envelopes from energy and environmental perspectives using the life-cycle assessment method. The study assesses environmental indicators such as EE from non-renewable resources and CO2eq and SO2eq emissions from proposed assemblies of building structures for nearly-zero energy wooden houses. Material compositions are also calculated in terms of selected thermal-physical aspects (U-value, phase shift of thermal oscillation, relaxation time) to ensure the reduction of energy consumption during building operation. All results are compared using a multi-dimensional evaluation approach through mathematical methods. The multi-criteria decision analysis demonstrates that material optimization of building structures is possible to ensure a marked reduction of the energy consumption and carbon footprint of buildings.

Effects of structural system on the life cycle carbon footprint of buildings

The criteria used conventionally in selection of structural system characteristics include mainly performance related and economic criteria and the environmental impacts including life cycle carbon footprint are rarely taken into consideration. This paper highlights the importance of considering the life cycle carbon footprint in selection of the structural system for buildings by illustrating the significant effect that variations in the structural system characteristics including type of the lateral load resisting system, material and height of the structure may have on the carbon footprint of structures. A set of 15 alternative steel and concrete structural systems including moment resisting frames, braced frames, shear wall systems and dual systems are designed for 3, 10 and 15 storey buildings. The carbon footprint of each individual design is estimated by considering the emissions incurred in material extraction, transportation, construction, operation and end-of-life phases using a computational method. The results indicate considerable differences between the life cycle carbon of different structural systems and between the carbon emissions incurred in different life cycle phases of a particular structural system, confirming the importance of considering the life cycle carbon footprint in selection of structural system characteristics.

Study for Improvement of Domestic System through Regulation based on Comparison of Green Building Certification System Analysis - Focused on the G-SEED, BREEAM

The main purpose of the green buildings by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprint of the building society, global as to ensure the sustainability of the building and the environment. These regulations and schemes are used to activate the green buildings were made on the basis of the relevant laws and regulations. Mainly in the research for the improvement of the domestic institutional assessment items, the analysis of the legislation was fundamentally focused on Scoring the incomplete state. The analysis based on the laws and regulations of the institution is the way to know the purpose and direction of the respective certification. This study was performed in the following order to target the new commercial buildings. First, the analysis of the geungeobeop G-SEED and BREEAM. Second, we analyze the content and method of building energy performance in the certification system. As a result, Green Building Act is broad in relation to the composition of the contents are building for the activation energy green building and EPI is dealt with in an abstract and presented the applicability of such documentary content of insulation and airtightness, efficient machine. In contrast, the UK has been directly limit the carbon footprint of buildings in the Building Regulations Part L and evaluate them in BREEAM. This analysis of the ways to reduce substantially the energy for domestic green building regulations should be addressed through the feed.

Cost optimality assessment of a single family house: Building and technical systems solutions for the nZEB target

Europe has set a clear path to guide Member States into the accomplishment of the nearly zero energy buildings (nZEBs) target. To this regard, within EPBD recast directive, a cost optimality procedure has been defined. This study presents different cost optimal solutions of building and technical systems for nZEBs in Italy. In total 40 economically and technically feasible energy efficiency measures for a high performing single family house were analyzed. Special attention was devoted to the study of the building technical systems. Achieving a net zero balance required a high efficient system combined with high insulation and a large PV system, which plays a key role in the nearly and net zero building energy balance. Three net zero energy balance solutions, based on all electric systems, were presented. Net ZEB solutions allowed also the building carbon footprint to be reduced by 40% compared to the reference case study. Without proper financial subsides, net ZEB solutions are still far for being economic feasible, having a global cost 212–313€/m2 higher than cost optimal solutions. In conclusion, this paper aims to present guidelines for designing reference building envelope and technical systems solution for residential nZEB.

Setting the Carbon Footprint Criteria for Public Construction Projects

Abstract This paper describes a method for controlling the growth of the carbon footprint of buildings during the preparation, design and procurement stages of construction projects. The process utilizes prevailing cost estimation techniques. As an outcome, new indicators for carbon efficiency and carbon economy of buildings are proposed. They have been developed together with the city of Espoo in a research project that included carbon footprinting of existing buildings and arranging an architectural competition for a low-carbon public building. Both carbon efficiency and economy seem to offer flexible opportunities for an integrated comparison of the environmental and economic sustainability of buildings.

Integrate an Embodied GHG Emissions Assessment Model into Building Environmental Assessment Tools

Building sector shares a considerable portion of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide, as building facilities are energy- and emission-intensive to construct and operate. The buildings’ embodied GHG emissions make up a considerable portion of buildings’ life cycle emissions. Previous research indicates that up to 30 per cent of buildings’ lifecycle emissions can be minimized through the careful selection of low-carbon materials. Although building environmental assessment (BEA) tools have been widely used in identifying and mitigating the lifecycle environmental impacts of building facilities, the existing BEA tools including the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) are proved to be unsatisfactory to fulfil the needs for auditing, benchmarking, and finally labeling the building materials’ embodied GHG emissions. This study began by examining the limitations of current BEA tools, in particular their means of evaluating the embodied GHG emissions of buildings. Then, an embodied GHG emissions assessment model was proposed to be integrated into an existing BEA scheme. The proposed BEA integrated embodied GHG emissions model comprised (i) product category, (ii) GHG auditing, and (iii) benchmarking. The proposed model will enable clients and design teams to minimize the carbon footprints of buildings and assist users and the general public in identifying real green building facilities.

Optimization of Building Performance in Terms of Envelope Elements through Combined Energy Modelling and Generic Optimization

Buildings account for approximately 40% of the global energy consumption and 36% of total carbon dioxide emissions. At present many efforts are underway to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint of buildings by optimizing their performance. Building envelope elements have a major impact on the performance of buildings. However, the best combination of the building envelope elements for optimizing the performance of buildings is difficult to determine and is not known. Building performance analysis is mostly done through energy modelling by using a whole building simulation tool. However, this is a slow and a tedious process, and generally only a few cases are evaluated in a large range of possible scenarios. By combining a generic optimization scheme with energy modelling, the best combination of building envelope elements can be determined and, thereby, it is possible to optimize the performance of buildings successfully subject to predefined constraints. This paper describes how the performance of an office building located in the suburbs of Colombo, Sri Lanka is optimized in terms of building envelope elements through combined energy modelling and generic optimization. The optimized envelope design with its efficient utilization of daylight, not only reduces the annual energy consumption substantially, but also leads to better thermal comfort for the occupants.

Embodied Carbon of Buildings: Tools, Methods and Strategies

Embodied carbon can be defined as the “CO2 emissions produced during the extraction of resources, transportation, manufacture, assembly, disassembly and end-of-life disposal of a product”. Calculation of the carbon footprint of buildings is important to promote the construction of low-carbon buildings that release significantly less CO2 compared to conventional buildings. However, researchers and practitioners in this area tend to disregard the embodied carbon and pay more attention to the operational carbon when calculating the carbon footprint of buildings. This paper reviews the current state and trend of research on the embodied carbon of buildings with focus on the tools, methods and strategies employed and makes recommendations for future research direction.

The importance of embodied energy in carbon footprint assessment

Purpose – The construction industry has focused on operational and embodied energy of buildings as a way of becoming more sustainable, however, with more emphasis on the former. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the impact that embodied energy of construction materials can have on the decision making when designing buildings, and ultimately on the environment. This is an important aspect that has often been overlooked when calculating a building's carbon footprint; and its inclusion this approach presents a more holistic life cycle assessment. Design/methodology/approach – A building project was chosen that is currently being designed; the design team for the project have been tasked by the client to make the facility exemplary in terms of its sustainability. This building has a limited construction palette; therefore the embodied energy component can be accurately calculated. The authors of this paper are also part of the design team for the building so they have full access to Building Information Modelling (BIM) models and production information. An inventory of materials was obtained for the building and embodied energy coefficients applied to assess the key building components. The total operational energy was identified using benchmarking to produce a carbon footprint for the facility. Findings – The results indicate that while operational energy is more significant over the long term, the embodied energy of key materials should not be ignored, and is likely to be a bigger proportion of the total carbon in a low carbon building. The components with high embodied energy have also been identified. The design team have responded to this by altering the design to significantly reduce the embodied energy within these key components – and thus make the building far more sustainable in this regard. Research limitations/implications – It may be is a challenge to create components inventories for whole buildings or for refurbishments. However, a potential future approach for is application may be to use a BIM model to simplify this process by imbedding embodied energy inventories within the software, as part of the BIM menus. Originality/value – This case study identifies the importance of considering carbon use during the whole-life cycle of buildings, as well as highlighting the use of carbon offsetting. The paper presents an original approach to the research by using a “live” building as a case study with a focus on the embodied energy of each component of the scheme. The operational energy is also being calculated, the combined data are currently informing the design approach for the building. As part of the analysis, the building was modelled in BIM software.

Evaluating the Efficacy of BREEAM Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH): A Cross-sectional Study

There is now a substantial body of evidence suggesting that climate change is occurring as a result of human activities. Bottom-up approaches have been encouraged to enhance sustainability agenda. Assessment methods have been developed to ensure an incessant decrease in carbon footprint of buildings. It has long been discussed that many of such assessment methods systematically lack dedicated criteria to assess building beyond its physical boundaries. This paper focuses on Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) and attempts to map it against LEED and CASBEE with an aim to encourage assessment beyond physical boundaries of a building and into its immediate context and surrounding environment. A critical review of the latest literature was conducted to establish the general concepts and principles behind the CSH's method of assessment in comparison with CASBEE and LEED. Following this, differences, positive and negative aspects of the three assessment method were established through in-depth review of their official documents and by cross-referencing the different components, methodologies and assessment criteria of each. This led to a comparative analysis using a critical evaluation of findings of The Building Environmental Quality Evaluation for Sustainability through Time (BEQUEST), The European Sustainable Development Strategy (ESDS) and The Freiburg Charter (FC). Expert interviews were conducted to consolidate the findings of this study. This added technical in-depth expert opinions to the preliminary findings of this research and helped pave the way for providing practical suggestions for possible areas of improvement for the CSH.

Scope-based carbon footprint analysis of U.S. residential and commercial buildings: An input–output hybrid life cycle assessment approach

Analyzing building related carbon emissions remains as one of the most increasing interests in sustainability research. While majority of carbon footprint studies addressing buildings differ in system boundaries, scopes, GHGs and methodology selected, the increasing number of carbon footprint reporting in response to legal and business demand paved the way for worldwide acceptance and adoption of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) set by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). Current research is an important attempt to quantify the carbon footprint of the U.S. residential and commercial buildings in accordance with carbon accounting standards and Scopes set by WRI, in which all possible indirect emissions are also considered. Emissions through the construction, use, and disposal phases were calculated for the benchmark year 2002 by using a comprehensive hybrid economic input–output life cycle analysis. The results indicate that emissions from direct purchases of electricity (Scope 2) with 48% have the highest carbon footprint in the U.S. buildings. Indirect emissions (Scope 3) with 32% are greater than direct emissions (Scope 1) with 20.4%. Commuting is the most influential activity among the Scope 3 emissions with more than 10% of the carbon footprint of the U.S. buildings overall. Construction supply chain is another important contributor to the U.S. building's carbon footprint with 6% share. Use phase emissions are found to be the highest with 91% of the total emissions through all of the life cycle phases of the U.S. buildings.

Capacity of unreinforced rammed earth walls subject to lateral wind force: elastic analysis versus ultimate strength analysis

Cement-stabilized rammed earth walls are an increasingly common form of construction in certain parts of the world, bringing considerable potential to reduce the carbon footprints of buildings. However, there is relatively little advice to designers wishing to use these construction materials at present, as compared to established materials such as concrete. This paper discusses the use of two proposed analysis procedures to calculate the capacity of unreinforced cement-stabilized rammed earth walls to lateral wind force. The first is an elastic analysis while the second is an ultimate strength analysis where a cracked wall is studied as a rigid-body mechanism. The accuracy of each method is assessed against the results of an experimental programme conducted on different rammed earth walls showing the shortcomings of the ultimate strength analysis. A new method is proposed in which the fracture energy required to open the crack that leads to the failure mechanism is included, leading to much improved predictions. The parameters used in the revised ultimate strength analysis are critically discussed and compared to those found in the concrete and masonry literature.

Research on Low-carbon Building Development Based on Whole Life Cycle Analysis

Abstract To develop and build low-carbon building, it is the most powerful measure to push building industry develop scientifically, it is the necessary way to improve people living level, it is an irresistible trend to save the earth. From the perspective of whole life cycle, this paper discusses the main point and measures to construct and develop the low-carbon building during its whole course of planning, layout and design, build and construction, and operation period, thus we can control and reduce the building carbon footprint, and form the healthy recycle sustainable development model.

P02-150 - Psychiatric intensive care units - designed for the patient ….designed for the environment

AimsThis poster explores how Psychiatric Intensive Care Units can be designed using “green” technology in order to be environment-friendly whilst also meeting patient needs.MethodAnalysis of the new PICU at Hellesdon Hospital, Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom. We describe how the architecture has been adapted from the standard mental health unit model to facilitate more intensive supervision. We will also examine the building design features that have been incorporated to ensure the lowest possible carbon footprint.ResultsRollesby Ward (PICU) at Hellesdon Hospital won the Broadland design award 2009. It is a new, purpose built, building that provides a safe, user-friendly unit with en-suite accommodation; and rooms for seclusion, therapeutic activities and one to one sessions. The use of key cards and the layout of the bedrooms and lounge areas maintain patient privacy and dignity. A number of technologies have been used to minimise the building's carbon footprint. These include maximising usage of natural light and ventilation, underground rainwater tanks for flushing toilets, photovoltaic roof panels, and ground source heat pumps. Since the PICU has opened, 62.63 mwh of energy (35.57 tons of carbon) has been saved.ConclusionNew build psychiatric units can successfully incorporate design features that deliver a better patient and therapeutic environment whilst also minimising the consumption of energy and the size of the carbon footprint.

Assessing embodied energy of building structural elements

Although operational energy is currently the focal point of sustainability in building regulations, embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions will become more significant as operational energy consumption is reduced. In the near future, embodied energy could account for a significant proportion of a building's carbon footprint over its lifetime, bearing in mind that the construction of energy-efficient buildings is carbon and energy intensive. Unlike operational energy, embodied energy savings have an immediate significant effect on carbon footprint and are independent of human behaviour. However, there is a lack of consensus within the construction industry on how to assess embodied energy and carbon dioxide and where to draw system boundaries, which has impeded advancement on the issue. This paper analyses the life-cycle embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions of a building's structural elements, and examines which stages within a building's life are the most significant and offer the most opportunities for a reduction of embodied energy and carbon dioxide. The embodied energy and associated carbon dioxide at the product and construction, maintenance and end-of-life stages of a structure are examined, as well as the potential for energy recovery and carbon dioxide offsetting. A simple single-storey structure is used as a case study to perform comparative analyses between two structural design alternatives: glue-laminated timber panels and steel frame with infill concrete blockwork.

Photovoltaics: added value of architectural integration

The majority of people live and work in urban environments. If the common targets of substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions within the next few decades are going to be met, it is in the urban environment where change must happen. Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are commonly seen as one appropriate measure to reduce urban carbon emissions through power generation and as an aid to promote behaviour change of occupiers to contribute to the goal of more sustainable cities. Solar photovoltaics (PV) are often applied as an ‘add-on’ solution to existing building structures in an aesthetically less than pleasing manner, representing a technological and environmental statement but not always a testament to good design. A more sensitive integration of PV into buildings (glazing, cladding, roo.ng or shading systems) can offer additional benefits by offsetting the costs of expensive materials (e.g. high-value cladding) or by providing additional functions such as solar shading. There is no doubt that the uptake of solar technology by architects and designers can be facilitated by well-designed solutions in which PV arrays form a unity with a building and add to its identity. The study presented here assesses basic forms of architectural integration of PV arrays into buildings and discusses the implications with regard to embodied energy, economics (excluding capital subsidies) and the impacts on a building's carbon footprint.