Embodied Carbon Dioxide Emissions Research Articles

Design strategies for buildings with low embodied energy

This paper presents building design strategies for reducing embodied energy and embodied carbon dioxide emissions as developed within the International Energy Agency’s Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme. The design strategies are illustrated using three case studies of design optimisations of building elements, the building structural system and the whole building. The first case study shows the environmental optimisation of a curtain wall facade element using bio-based materials. The second case study presents the optimisation of the structural system for a residential building by lightening the floor structures through utilising ultrahigh-performance concrete and vertical elements with reduced cross-section. The third case study presents an alternative design for a passive-design family house in Prague in the Czech Republic, leading to hybrid construction of light prefabricated concrete elements, a timber frame and a timber-based building envelope.

A comparative study of countries’ responsibilities for carbon dioxide emission in an open economy

In an open economy, embodied carbon dioxide emissions in international trade should be taken into consideration to scientifically define each country’s emissions responsibility. In this study, a multiregional input–output model is constructed to calculate the embodied carbon dioxide emissions of 25 World Trade Organization members, including China, according to the producer–consumer shared responsibility principle. The study indicates that: it is fairer and more efficient to identify each country’s carbon dioxide emissions responsibility according to the shared responsibility principle; China’s producer responsibility is 1.4 times that of the USA, while China’s consumer responsibility is only one-tenth that of the USA; according to the producer responsibility principle, China shoulders the greatest responsibility. According to the producer–consumer shared responsibility principle, China’s responsibility shows a large decrease. Resource endowment, economic development stage, and trade structure account for...

The ‘carbon footprint’ of sewer pipes: risks of inconsistency

The sewerage industry needs to understand and reduce embodied carbon dioxide emissions associated with its assets in order to contribute to the national carbon dioxide reduction agenda. There are at least six recognised methodologies for calculating so-called ‘carbon footprints’ of construction products and tens of standard-based or ad hoc calculators. With the increase in information from different sources, the use of different methodologies and the absence of representative data and data collection methods, there is a risk that inappropriate data, results or methods are used to justify crucial decisions in the sewerage sector. This paper presents an assessment of the problem and its impact on the reliability of embodied carbon dioxide emissions data for large diameter (≥225 mm) sewer pipes. Fifteen scenarios are developed based on a number of methodological rules and assumptions associated with data accuracy, functional unit, technology and geographic coverage. A significant variance, reaching over 50%, is found between widely accepted carbon footprint values for concrete and plastic sewer pipes and values based on alternative scenarios. Guidance is then offered on how secondary data should be handled and what methodological questions should be addressed prior to data use.

Embodied Carbon Dioxide Emission by the Globalized Economy: A Systems Ecological Input-Output Simulation

This study presents an embodiment analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission originated in fossil fuels combustion for the world economy in 2004. A global embodied CO2 intensity database associated with 112 regions and 57 sectors is obtained by applying the systems ecological input-output simulation, based on which the regional embodied CO2 inventories are compiled to investigate the emissions instigated by particular economic activities. Globally, CO2 emissions embodied in household fossil fuels combustion, in household commodity consumption, in government commodity consumption, and in investment are 3.99, 13.83, 2.07, and 5.22 Gt, respectively. As an indicator to reveal the average occupation of carbon welfare, regional per capita CO2 emission embodied in consumption varies from 0.12 t in Ethiopia to 45.16 t in Rest of North America. The severe inequality between regions is characterized by the high Gini coefficients for CO2 emissions (0.56 for direct emission and 0.58 for embodiment). And finally, the interregional carbon leakage in terms of net leakage, spill-over, and diversion is illustrated via dividing the world into three coalitions according to respective economic statuses.

Farm-specific carbon footprinting to the farm gate for agricultural co-products using the OVERSEER® model

The user inputs to OVERSEER® Nutrient Budgets (Overseer) allow farm-specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be estimated. Since the development of the original model, life cycle assessment standards (e.g. PAS 2050) have been proposed and adopted for determining GHG or carbon footprints, which are usually reported as emissions per unit of product, for example, per kg milk, meat or wool. New Zealand pastoral farms frequently generate a range of products with different management practices. A robust system is required to allocate the individual sources of GHGs (e.g. methane, nitrous oxide, direct carbon dioxide and embodied carbon dioxide emissions for inputs used on the farm) to each product from a farm. This paper describes a method for allocating emissions to co-products from New Zealand farms. The method requires allocating the emissions, first, to an animal enterprise, separating the emissions between breeding and trading animals, and then allocating to a specific product to give product (e.g. milk, meat, wool, velvet) footprints from the ‘cradle-to-farm-gate’. The meat product was based on live-weight gain. Procedures were adopted so that emissions associated with rearing of young stock used in live-weight gain systems, both as a by-product or a primary product could be estimated. This allows the possibility of total emissions for a meat product to be built up from contributing farms along the production chain.

Embodied carbon dioxide emission at supra-national scale: A coalition analysis for G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world

Presented in this study is an empirical analysis of embodied carbon dioxide emissions induced by fossil fuel combustion for the world divided into three supra-national coalitions, i.e., G7, BRIC, and the rest of the world (ROW), via the application of a multi-region input–output modeling for 2004. Embodied emission intensities for the three coalitions are calculated and compared, with market exchange rate and purchase power parity separately used to investigate the difference between nominal and real production efficiencies. Emissions embodied in different economic activities such as production, consumption, import, and export are calculated and analyzed accordingly, and remarkable carbon trade imbalances associated with G7 (surplus of 1.53 billion tons, or 36% its traded emissions) and BRIC (deficit of 1.37 billion tons, or 51% its traded emissions) and approximate balance with ROW (deficit of 0.16 billion tons, or 3% its traded emissions) are concretely revealed. Carbon leakages associated with industry transfer and international trades are illustrated in terms of impacts on global climate policies. The last but not least, per capita consumption based emissions for G7, BRIC, and ROW are determined as 12.95, 1.53, and 2.22 tons, respectively, and flexible abatement policies as well as equity on per capita entitlement are discussed.

Embodied Carbon Dioxide Emissions of the World Economy: A Systems Input-Output Simulation for 2004

Presented in this study is an empirical analysis of embodied carbon dioxide (CO2) emission originated in fossil fuels combustion for the world economy in 2004 using a systems input-output simulation. A global embodied CO2 intensity database associated with 112 regions and 57 sectors is constructed, based on which the regional embodiment inventories are compiled to investigate the emissions instigated by particular economic activities. Globally, CO2 emissions embodied in household fossil fuels combustion, in household commodity consumption, in government commodity consumption, and in investment are 3.99, 13.83, 2.07, and 5.22 Gt, respectively. As an indicator to reveal the average occupation of carbon welfare, regional per capita CO2 emission embodied in domestic final demand varies from 0.12 t in Ethiopia to 45.16 t in Rest of North America. The severe inequality between regions is further confirmed by the high Gini coefficients for CO2 emissions (0.56 for direct emission and 0.58 for embodiment). And finally, the interregional carbon leakage in terms of net leakage, spill-over, and diversion is illustrated via dividing the world into three coalitions according to respective economic statuses.

Briefing: Concrete takes the lead in sustainable construction

If sustainability is measured simply in terms of embodied carbon dioxide emissions, concrete is ahead on points. But if you factor in cost, durability and other unique properties of concrete, Costas Georgopoulos of The Concrete Centre says it is the clear winner for sustainable construction.

Simple Indicator To Identify the Environmental Soundness of Growth of Consumption and Technology: “Eco-velocity of Consumption”

Today's material welfare has been achieved at the expense of consumption of finite resources and generation of environmental burdens. Over the past few decades the volume of global consumption has grown dramatically, while at the same time technological advances have enabled products with greater efficiencies. These two directions of change, consumption growth and technological advance, are the foci of the present paper. Using quantitative measures for these two factors, we define a new indicator, "eco-velocity of consumption", analogous to velocity in physics. The indicator not only identifies the environmental soundness of consumption growth and technological advance but also indicates whether and to what extent our society is shifting toward sustainable consumption. This study demonstrates the practicability of the indicator through a case study in which we calculate the eco-velocities of Japanese household consumption in 2 years: 1995 and 2000. The rate of technological advance during the periods concerned is quantified in terms of the embodied carbon dioxide emission per yen of product. The results show that the current growth rate of Japanese household consumption is greater than the rate of technological advance to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions. The eco-velocities at the level of individual commodity groups are also examined, and the sources of changes in eco-velocity for each commodity are identified using structural decomposition analysis.