Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Research Articles

Electrification pathways for light-duty logistics vehicles based on perceived cost of ownership in Northern China

Urban decarbonization and environmental mitigation necessitate the electrification of light-duty logistics vehicles (LDLVs), including battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell variants. Although the market uptake of electric LDLVs is ecologically imperative, it is impeded by range anxiety and charging infrastructure limitations, particularly pronounced in Northern China’s cold climates. This paper employs a system dynamics model to assess the Perceived Cost of Ownership of electric LDLVs, integrating both direct expenses - initial investment and energy costs - and indirect factors like energy replenishment, vehicle substitution, and lifecycle carbon emissions. This analysis reveals that, notwithstanding higher upfront costs, electric LDLVs offer substantial economic and environmental advantages, with significant energy and maintenance savings projected by 2030 under various electrification scenarios. This paper predicts that policy incentives, electricity pricing, and technological progress will significantly influence the market dynamics and industry output of new energy vehicles in Northern China. Notably, the findings indicate that by 2030, electric LDLVs could achieve substantial cost savings and environmental benefits, with market penetration and industry output contingent on the interplay of policy support and technological advancements. The baseline scenario forecasts a 48.17% market share and CNY 60.015 billion in industry output, whereas the high-speed electrification scenario projects the most optimistic outcomes, with a 75.29% market share and CNY 306.087 billion in output.

Life cycle assessment of metal powder production: a Bayesian stochastic Kriging model-based autonomous estimation

Metal powder contributes to the environmental burdens of additive manufacturing (AM) substantially. Current life cycle assessments (LCAs) of metal powders present considerable variations of lifecycle environmental inventory due to process divergence, spatial heterogeneity, or temporal fluctuation. Most importantly, the amounts of LCA studies on metal powder are limited and primarily confined to partial material types. To this end, based on the data surveyed from a metal powder supplier, this study conducted an LCA of titanium and nickel alloy produced by electrode-inducted and vacuum-inducted melting gas atomization, respectively. Given that energy consumption dominates the environmental burden of powder production and is influenced by metal materials’ physical properties, we proposed a Bayesian stochastic Kriging model to estimate the energy consumption during the gas atomization process. This model considered the inherent uncertainties of training data and adaptively updated the parameters of interest when new environmental data on gas atomization were available. With the predicted energy use information of specific powder, the corresponding lifecycle environmental impacts can be further autonomously estimated in conjunction with the other surveyed powder production stages. Results indicated the environmental impact of titanium alloy powder is slightly higher than that of nickel alloy powder and their lifecycle carbon emissions are around 20 kg CO2 equivalency. The proposed Bayesian stochastic Kriging model showed more accurate predictions of energy consumption compared with conventional Kriging and stochastic Kriging models. This study enables data imputation of energy consumption during gas atomization given the physical properties and producing technique of powder materials.

Achieving deep transport energy demand reductions in the United Kingdom

The transport sector is a crucial yet challenging area to decarbonize, given its heavy reliance on fossil fuel usage, carbon-intensive infrastructure and car-centric lifestyles. It remains the largest contributor to local air pollution in cities yet has the potential to improve people's physical and mental health. This research investigated the potential contribution of transport energy demand reduction to climate change mitigation and improving public health. Using a comprehensive bottom-up modelling framework, the Transport Energy and Air pollution Model (TEAM), this study provides an integrated assessment of the impacts of deep mobility-related energy demand reductions, including lifecycle carbon emissions, local air pollution and health impacts. Using a sociotechnical scenario approach and the UK as a case study, this research reveals that energy demand reductions of up to 61 % by 2050 compared to baseline levels are achievable and can enhance citizens' quality of life. Business as usual approaches which rely on a technical transition miss the legislated carbon budgets and result in higher energy demand in 2050. More comprehensive scenarios deliver a reduction of up to 72 % in total lifecycle carbon emissions by 2050, with approximately half of the reduction achieved through mode shifting and avoiding travel, while the other half comes from vehicle energy efficiency, electrification, and downsizing of the vehicle fleets. The research shows that it can lead to significant co-benefits such as improved local air pollution and public health. The feasibility and practicality of policy measures and integrated strategies identified for achieving deep transport-energy demand reductions are discussed.

Utilization of calcium carbide residue based soil stabilizer in road construction: Strength, environmental impact, and field application

This research paper delves into the utilization of calcium carbide residue (CCR)based stabilizer (designated as CSC) in road subgrade soil stabilization, with a comprehensive evaluation of its mechanical strength, environmental safety, and efficacy in field applications. Amid growing environmental concerns and the push for sustainable construction materials, this study presents an innovative approach by repurposing CCR, a by-product of the acetylene production process, in enhancing the structural integrity of road foundations. Through a series of laboratory tests, the investigation reveals significant improvements in the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and California bearing ratio (CBR) of CSC-stabilized soils, compared to traditional lime stabilization methods. The field test DCPI results indicate that the CBR value of the field test CSC stabilised soil is 50.19% after three days, whereas the CBR value of the field test lime stabilised soil is only 29.51% after the same period. The CBR value of the CSC stabilised soil is significantly higher than that of the lime stabilised soil. This study also tested the leachate of the stabilised soil, analysing the concentration of heavy metals. The results indicated that the leachate from the stabilised soil complies with heavy metal leaching standards, demonstrating the ecological benefits of CSC utilisation. Furthermore, field experiments conducted on the G312 National Highway in Jiangsu Province, China, further validated the laboratory test results. The findings from the field trials indicated that sections stabilised with CSC exhibited superior performance in terms of reduced soil deformation and enhanced load-bearing capacity. Additionally, a life cycle carbon emission analysis was conducted for the field trial section, comparing the carbon emissions of the CSC binder with those of the lime binder throughout the entire life cycle of road construction. The results from the trial section demonstrated that the use of the CSC binder significantly reduced carbon emissions. The study underscores the potential of CSC as a cost-effective, environmentally friendly stabilizing agent, offering a pragmatic solution to the dual challenges of industrial waste management and soil stabilization in road construction.

Zero-carbon tunnel: Concept, methodology and application in the built environment

Road tunnels are key components in the transportation infrastructure system, and plays a key role in the carbon emission. At present, the research on tunnel carbon emissions is still at an early stage, and its research target has not yet realized the transformation from low-carbon to zero-carbon. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of the zero-carbon tunnel and introduces a methodology for zero-carbon tunnel design. This methodology includes defining the accounting boundaries of a zero-carbon tunnel, establishing a tunnel life-cycle carbon emissions assessment model, and verifying the zero-carbon tunnel. The methodology is applied to a road tunnel in China, to assess its carbon emission level and explore pathways to achieve zero-carbon status. Additionally, this paper discusses issues related to zero-carbon tunnels and explores future research prospects in this area. This study provides a reference for subsequent research on road tunnel carbon emissions.

Coupling geospatial suitability simulation and life cycle carbon emissions towards uncertain optimization planning for wind-photovoltaic-hydrogen multi-energy complementary system

Building clean and modern multi-energy complementary systems is a direct path to decarbonization in energy sector. The introduction of hydrogen energy with high operational flexibility enables the multi-energy complementary system to fully accommodate renewable energy. The key issues of the optimization planning of the wind-photovoltaic-hydrogen multi-energy complementary system that need to be solved are how to finely characterize the carbon reduction potential of the system, consider the uncertainty of supply and demand in the modeling process, and incorporate the energy supply business of electric vehicles into the planning. This study constructs optimization planning model with the following three progressive stages: geospatial suitability simulation based on geographic information system, uncertainty analysis based on probabilistic scene generation technology, and capacity configuration optimization. Unlike previous studies, this model measures and optimizes the carbon emissions level of the system from a lifecycle perspective. The empirical study results indicate that carbon emissions optimization from the perspective of the entire life cycle would directly affect the system configuration results. From a lifecycle perspective, the carbon emissions accounting result is about 9 times higher than that obtained only during the operation phase. Compared to the traditional distribution system, the carbon emissions of the system constructed in this study decreased by 82.75 %. In addition, considering that the system provides charging services for electric vehicles, which can reduce carbon emissions by about 93.6 % but only increase costs by about 29.4 %. The computational results justify the proposed optimization framework. This study provides optimization models for the system, and the implementation framework can support technical reference for practice.

Life cycle carbon emission assessment and carbon payback period analysis for the regeneration of old residential areas in cold regions: Case study in Qingdao, China

Communities urgently need to explore green and low-carbon transformation pathways due to high energy consumption and carbon emissions. However, existing studies lack a comprehensive assessment of carbon emissions and analysis regarding carbon reduction during renovation of old residential areas in cold regions. Therefore, this study employs a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the payback period method to evaluate carbon emissions throughout the life cycle comprehensively. It constructs a carbon-emission calculation model based on LCA, specifically tailored to the retrofitting of old residential areas in cold cities. Additionally, it investigates the effectiveness of three typical retrofit measures undertaken in Qingdao, a region located in the cold A zone, focusing on whole-life-cycle energy savings and carbon reduction. The findings reveal that the average annual carbon emission intensity per unit area for Cases 1, 2, and 3 is 12.59 kg-CO2 e/(m2·a), 27.05 kg-CO2 e/(m2·a), and 23.39 kg-CO2 e/(m2·a), respectively. Their corresponding carbon payback periods were 6.06, 7.23, and 16.00 years, respectively, which could be further shortened through material recycling. The environmental impact assessment of typical retrofitting measures contributes to the promotion of sustainable development. Furthermore, this study offers guidance for establishing an effective assessment system that supports the design of energy-saving retrofits.

Life cycle carbon emission calculation model of energy system in public buildings: A case study in Shanghai

Energy consumption and carbon emissions (CE) in the building sector have grown in importance in relation to global climate change for China's sustainable development. Relatively few research have addressed the embodied CE, despite the fact that many have examined the operational CE from energy system operational use. In order to determine the CE of the energy production, transportation, construction, operation, and recycling stages, we therefore put up an integrated model. An inventory analysis of the energy system's life cycle CE, a scenario forecast of various combinations of building energy system equipment, and a case study of the building energy system of a typical office building in Shanghai's service industry. According to the results, the embodied CE emits 38.01 % of its energy, and the operational CE emits 61.99 %. However, we should not underestimate the significance of the impact of the embodied CE. Among all projection scenarios, the suggested CE share is highest (18.40 %) when the system combination of air-source heat pump units, LED lights, and ground-source heat pump units is implemented. In the end, based on the structural analysis of the embodied CE, low-carbon growth strategies and policy recommendations for Shanghai's service sector will be made.

Impact of concrete durability improvement on building life cycle carbon emissions: a case study of residential buildings in Northwest China.

Building carbon emissions (CE) have become the focus of the current topic, but there is still no mature typical building life cycle theory method from the perspective of building materials, and the research on the relationship between building durability and building life cycle is still insufficient. To this end, this study established a detailed calculation method for building carbon emissions (CE) and divided the building life cycle (BLC) into three stages: manufacturing, use, and demolition according to the result analysis. In addition, a durability improvement and carbon reduction scheme of "partition, resistance, and repair" is proposed, and the carbon emission reduction index of effectiveness index is proposed. The proposed method is applied to the case of residential buildings in Northwest China. The main conclusions are as follows: the CE of residential buildings are more dependent on the use stage. If the centralized heating system is adopted, the CE in the operation stage account for 80-90%. If the air conditioning refrigeration and heating system is adopted, the CE in the operation stage account for about 50%. Using the method of improving the durability of buildings to extend the service life of buildings is very significant for building carbon reduction (RC); the effectiveness index proposed in this paper includes key indicators such as total CE, service life, and building area. Compared with the traditional index, the effectiveness index is more accurate and comprehensive. CR is the focus of green building, but the impact of economy needs to be considered in practical engineering. In the future research, durability, CE, and economy need to be considered comprehensively for careful study.

Research on the Influencing Factors of Carbon Emissions in Low-carbon Communities based on Complex Network Theory

Achieving carbon peak before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060 is a solemn commitment made by China to address global climate change, and is also one of the main goals for economic and social development in the 14th Five Year Plan and the 2035 vision period. The changes in carbon emissions are directly related to the progress of China's "carbon peak" and "carbon neutrality" goals. Therefore, in-depth research on the influencing factors of carbon emissions has become a key link in promoting the achievement of this goal. In the existing research on carbon emission influencing factors, countries mainly focus on macro scale low-carbon urban carbon emission influencing factors and micro scale low-carbon building full life cycle carbon emission influencing factors. However, there is relatively little research on the influencing factors of carbon emissions in low-carbon communities of urban micro units, and there is still considerable research space. This study conducted an in-depth analysis of the influencing factors of carbon emissions in low-carbon communities using complex network methods. By constructing a complex network model of factors affecting carbon emissions, we identified key nodes and pathways, and explored their interrelationships. The results indicate that factors such as energy structure, resident behavior, building design, and policy implementation play an important role in carbon emissions in low-carbon communities.

277 Estimating the potential effect of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infection on swine sustainability

Abstract Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is the primary causative agent of enzootic pneumonia, one of the most common bacterial pathogens affecting pigs and the main contributor to respiratory comorbidities. Infection with M. hyopneumoniae, commonly observed in growing pigs, results in decreased feed intake and an increase in the number of days to reach market weight. Based on extended days to market, pigs infected with M. hyopneumoniae will have a greater life cycle carbon emissions and water usage than that of non-infected pigs. However, the magnitude of additional carbon footprint and water use in pigs infected with M. hyopneumoniae has never been calculated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to estimate the potential variation in carbon emissions and water footprint generated by M. hyopneumoniae infected pigs. This study was conducted using data from previous publications on M. hyopneumoniae infected pigs in experimental and commercial conditions. The carbon footprint and water usage of pork production was obtained from the literature and was used as a baseline (3,470 kg of CO2 eq and 1,678 m3 water eq; both per 1,000 kg of pork carcass weight). The change in average daily gain was estimated and additional days on feed to reach market weight were used to calculate potential carbon and water impact for pigs infected with M. hyopneumoniae. The estimated carbon emissions and water usage of M. hyopneumoniae infected pigs increased in a range of 84.69 to 142.93 kg of CO2 eq/1,000 kg of pork carcass weight and 40.95 to 69.12 m3 eq/1,000 kg of pork carcass weight respectively, compared with the carbon emissions of non-infected pigs (Table 1). Results of this study showed an increased carbon footprint for M. hyopneumoniae infected pigs by 2 to 4% and water usage increased by 2.5 to 4.1% suggesting that the sustainability of pork production was negatively affected by this bacterial infection. Previous literature on the impact of controlling vaccine-preventable diseases has shown similar results for other swine respiratory pathogens. In addition, these data only included M. hyopneumoniae infected pigs, thus the effect of respiratory co-infections was not estimated and the impact on sustainability metrics may be greater than currently calculated. The application of sustainable practices in animal production, including disease prevention, is key to ensuring a secure food supply for future generations. The carbon and water footprints of swine production are measurements of sustainability, with average daily gain being an important factor.

Carbon Emission Accounting and Reduction Evaluation in Sponge City Residential Areas

This paper aims to establish a more standardized and regulated carbon emission accounting model for sponge cities by unifying the accounting content for carbon emissions and clarifying the relationships between carbon reduction benefits, carbon reduction effects, and carbon sequestration, in order to evaluate the carbon reduction outcomes and mechanisms of sponge city construction. Based on a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) carbon emission accounting model using the carbon emission factor method, a newly constructed residential area in Tianshui City, Gansu Province, was selected as a case study, and the carbon emission reduction effect of sponge city construction was then investigated. Results indicated that the 30-year full life cycle carbon emissions for sponge city construction in the newly constructed residential area amounted to 828.98 tons, compared to 744.28 tons of CO2 reduction in traditional construction, representing a 47.31% reduction in carbon emissions. Over a 30-year life cycle, this equated to a total carbon emission reduction effect of 1460.31 tons. Additionally, under various rainfall scenarios in a typical year, the carbon emission reduction effect of sponge city construction exceeded the carbon emissions, achieving carbon neutrality within 22 to 30 years of operation. This demonstrates that the carbon emission reduction effect of sponge city communities is significant. The findings of this study provide data and a theoretical basis for the low-carbon construction of sponge cities in China.

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

Building-related carbon emissions in the construction and operation stages account for more than one-third of global energy-related emissions. Optimizing during the early design stage is an effective way to reduce building carbon emissions. However, current studies adopt a constant grid emission factor (GEF) to assess the environmental impacts of buildings while ignoring the dynamic changes of the future electricity mix. This will overestimate the operational carbon emissions of the building in the context of the increasing share of renewable energy in power generation. In this study, a dynamic life cycle assessment model based on dynamic GEF is constructed to evaluate the life cycle environmental impacts of buildings. On this basis, a building optimization design framework considering dynamic GEF is proposed, and the impact of considering future variations of GEF on the optimal design of the building envelope is explored. The study is conducted in three steps. First, dynamically changing GEFs are predicted under the future electricity mix based on scenario analysis. Second, a multi-objective optimization framework is established to minimize the life cycle carbon emissions (LCCE) of the building while optimizing its life cycle costs (LCC) and indoor discomfort hours (IDH). Finally, the proposed optimization framework is applied to a prototype office building in Shanghai, and a comparative analysis is conducted for the optimal schemes between a static and two dynamic scenarios. The result reveals that ignoring future variations will lead to overestimating the operational carbon emissions by 49.0%-64.8%, which in turn will result in an over-insulated design of the envelope (i.e., additional material consumption). In addition, compared to the static scenario, consideration of dynamic GEF results in a 38.7%-51.6% reduction in LCCE, a 5.2%-6.1% reduction in LCC, and a 5.3%-9.5% increase in IDH for the optimal solutions. This research illustrates the importance of considering dynamic GEF in identifying the optimal design parameters and can help decision-makers reasonably choose the optimal schemes during early-stage design.

Consideration of Thermal Comfort, Daylighting Comfort, and Life-Cycle Decarbonization in the Retrofit of Kindergarten Buildings in China: A Case Study

Kindergartens play a crucial role in nurturing the physical, cognitive, and social development of children. Hence, designing kindergarten buildings requires the consideration of the unique requirements and behavior of children. Considering the rapid urbanization of China and its commitment to achieving the 3060 carbon goal, in this study, we examine the retrofitting of kindergarten buildings in China and propose a retrofit optimization method for kindergarten buildings that considers thermal comfort, daylighting, and life-cycle carbon emissions. Through this method, information on the thermal and daylighting comfort of occupants, weather data, occupant scheduling, and envelope and energy system of the kindergarten building to be retrofitted can be obtained through various approaches, such as video playback, field investigation, literature research, and consult drawings. On this basis, optimization variables are selected, and a physical model is established to guide the retrofit process. Afterward, a rapid comprehensive optimization framework based on parallel computing is adopted to obtain the comprehensive optimal design scheme for the building to be retrofitted. The proposed method is applied to a kindergarten building retrofit case in Nanjing, China, and the results show that the optimal comprehensive scheme results in a reduction in carbon emissions of 34,158.3 kg, an increase in the thermal comfort period of 2.7%, and an improvement in daylighting comfort of 79.7% over the benchmark scheme. The significance of this study extends beyond its potential for widespread application in kindergarten building retrofits. It contributes to advancing sustainable building design and environmental stewardship, creating healthier and more comfortable learning environments for children while mitigating the environmental impact of buildings. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of considering children’s unique needs and behaviors in building design, ultimately leading to better outcomes for their overall development.

Research on Carbon Emission Pre-Assessment of Residential Buildings in Xi’an City during the Scheme Design Stage

The effect of energy saving and carbon reduction in the building industry is closely related to the realization of China’s double carbon goal. In this study, a two-dimensional framework for building life cycle carbon emissions was established, which takes into account the early stages of building design such as the feasibility study stage and scheme design stage. Taking 57 residential buildings in Xi’an City as examples, the life cycle carbon emission characteristics of residential buildings in cold areas were introduced. This study found that the life cycle carbon emission intensity is about 45~55 kgCO2/(m2·a). The operation and maintenance stage and building materials production stage accounted for the largest proportion of carbon emissions, and the sum of carbon emissions of the two stages accounted for 92.3% of the total carbon emissions. In addition, based on the probability density function, the carbon emission intensity distributions of the building life cycle, building material production stage, building material transportation stage, and operation and maintenance stage were analyzed, and it was found that each distribution fitting graph was generally in line with a lognormal distribution, and their expected value provided a reference index for carbon emission pre-assessment in the feasibility study stage. Based on the analysis and determination of 11 independent variables that affect the total carbon emissions, such as area, floor number, story height, and number of households, a multiple linear regression model for carbon emission pre-assessment in the design stage of building schemes is proposed. The R2adj of the model is 0.985 and the error is about 10%. The prediction model can provide beneficial guidance for the life cycle carbon emission prediction in the design stage of building projects, so as to reduce carbon emissions by changing building design.

The impact of different business models on the environmental and economic benefits of public charging facilities

ABSTRACT This paper explores the impact of different charging pile business models on their economic and environmental benefits. Firstly, this paper analyzes the cooperation and competition relationships among the stakeholders under three charging pile business models, and their impact on the whole process of charging pile from design, production, operation to recycling. Secondly, this paper establishes a social economic benefit evaluation model and a life cycle carbon emission evaluation model based on the differences of charging pile in quality, cost, life span and high-value component recycling rate under different business models. Finally, this paper conducts a case analysis of the economic and environmental benefits of three business models combined with China’s actual situation. The research results show that the economic and environmental benefits of each party in the three business models are closely related to the quality, cost, life span and high-value component recycling rate of the charging pile. Among them, the life span of the charging pile has the greatest impact on its economic and environmental benefits. The higher the recycling rate of high-value components, the more conducive to improving its economic and environmental benefits. The research results will provide reference for policy makers and EVCI investors.

Carbon Emission Accounting and Reduction for Buildings Based on a Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study in China’s Hot-Summer and Warm-Winter Region

At the 75th United Nations General Assembly, China committed to peaking carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. In response, the national standard “General Specification for Building Energy Conservation and Utilization of Renewable Energy” has been adopted across 20 provinces and cities in seven major regions, including North China, Northeast China, and South China. These regions have implemented stringent energy-saving and emission reduction reviews and quota requirements. Despite this, there is limited research on comprehensive life cycle carbon emission calculations and carbon reduction designs. This study addresses this gap by focusing on economically developed regions with high population density and substantial energy-saving potential, specifically targeting the warm winter and hot summer regions of China. Using a commercial building in Shenzhen as a case study, we established a carbon emission accounting model based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. We calculated carbon emissions during the material phase using the project’s bill of quantities and relevant carbon emission factors. Additionally, we used the CEEB 2023 software to design energy-saving and emission reduction solutions for the building. Our comparative analysis reveals that the new design reduces the carbon emissions of the case study building by 13.5%. This reduction not only mitigates the environmental impact of construction but also contributes to the fight against the greenhouse effect, supporting the broader goal of sustainable development.

Life cycle assessment of carbon emissions for cross-sea tunnel: A case study of Shenzhen-Zhongshan Bridge and Tunnel in China

Due to significant population concentration and capital influx in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the construction of cross-sea tunnels with significant consumption of various resources and materials, has been frequently witnessed. However, there is a lack of knowledge regarding how carbon emissions of cross-sea transportation infrastructure are generated across its life-cycle stages. This study proposes a life cycle assessment (LCA) approach for quantifying the carbon emissions and exploring the carbon reduction potentials with a case study of a world-renowned cross-sea tunnel project in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The results find that this project contributes approximately 849 kilotons CO2eq of carbon emissions with an emission intensity of 1.1 kilotons CO2eq per meter. The materialization stage is the largest contributor of carbon emissions (474.9 kilotons CO2eq), followed by service stage (248.3 kilotons CO2eq, accounting for 29.2 %). Some carbon emissions of raw materials can be offset by using recycled materials. The discarded concrete, block, stone, and sand, occupying over 90 % of the total recycled waste in weight could achieve a 93.5 % of carbon reduction potentially. It provides the opportunity to reveal the engineering details and carbon emission for a world-class super complex cross-sea transportation infrastructure. This study makes one of the first attempts to quantify life-cycle carbon emissions of cross-sea transportation infrastructure, which enriches foundational dataset for environmental impact assessment in this emerging field. The findings of this study can provide scientific references for formulating targeted low-carbon strategies for cross-sea transportation infrastructure across its different life-cycle stages.

Preliminary Study on the Estimation of Life Cycle Carbon Emissions of Girder Bridge Using Domestic Emission Factor

Preliminary Study on the Estimation of Life Cycle Carbon Emissions of Girder Bridge Using Domestic Emission Factor

Using BIM and LCA to Calculate the Life Cycle Carbon Emissions of Inpatient Building: A Case Study in China

Hospital buildings provide healthcare services at the costs of significant amounts of energy consumption and carbon emissions, further exacerbating the environmental load. Because of the limited research on the life cycle carbon emissions of Chinese hospitals, this study conducted a detailed carbon-accounting and comparative study. Firstly, BIM and LCA were used to quantify the carbon emissions of the inpatient building in each stage of the life cycle. Secondly, the differences in carbon emissions by stage were compared on the basis of 20 cases of public buildings. The results show that the whole-life carbon emissions of the inpatient building was 10,459.94 kgCO2/m2. The proportion of operational carbon emissions was 94.68%, with HVAC (52.57%), equipment (27.85%), and lighting (10.11%) being the main sources. Embodied carbon emissions accounted for 4.54%, and HRB400 steel and C30 concrete were the main sources of carbon emissions. Hospitals are second only to emporiums in terms of operational carbon intensity, being 1.71 and 1.41 times that of schools and office buildings, with inpatient buildings being 3 and 1.7 times that of medical complexes and outpatient buildings, respectively. The future sustainable development of hospital buildings should promote efficient building performance and good environmental quality, both in terms of energy efficiency and carbon reduction.