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Papers by Jose L Fernandez-Solis

Facilities, 2014

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance,... more ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance, replacement and retrofit processes of a facility. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the relationship of REE with the service life and life cycle embodied energy. The amount of variation in the reported REE values is also determined and discussed. Design/methodology/approach ‐ A qualitative approach that is known as the literature based discovery (LBD) was adopted. Existing literature was surveyed to gather case studies and to analyze the reported values of REE. Findings ‐ The reported values of REE showed considerable variation across referred studies. It was also found that the reported REE values demonstrated a moderate positive correlation with the service life but a very strong positive correlation with the life cycle embodied energy of both the residential and commercial facilities. Research limitations/implications ‐ This review paper pointed out the importance of the maintenance and replacement processes in reducing the life cycle energy use in a facility. Future research could focus on performing case studies to evaluate this relationship. Practical implications ‐ The findings highlight the significance of REE in reducing the life cycle energy impacts of a facility. As facility managers routinely deal with maintenance and replacement processes, they hold an important responsibility of reducing the life cycle energy. Originality/value ‐ The findings of the paper would motivate the facilities management professionals to prefer long service life materials and components during the postconstruction phases of a built facility.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2013

ABSTRACT Buildings consume nearly 40% of global energy annually in their production, operation, m... more ABSTRACT Buildings consume nearly 40% of global energy annually in their production, operation, maintenance, replacement and demolition stages. Energy consumed in their life cycle stages other than the operation is called life cycle embodied energy. Total life cycle energy constitutes the building's embodied and operational energy over its service life. Operational energy constitutes a relatively larger fraction of life cycle energy in a conventional building. However, with the emergence of larger number of low energy buildings the significance of embodied energy is expected to grow. Current embodied energy calculations exhibit problems of variation, inaccuracy and incompleteness. System boundary definition is a key parameter that differs across studies and causes these problems, as studies define their system boundary subjectively. Research studies have proposed various system boundary models that should be applied to the buildings for life cycle analysis; however, the extent of their boundary definition differs. This paper gathers and synthesizes relevant literature opinions to develop a comprehensive system boundary model that can be adopted while performing the life cycle energy analysis of a building. The purpose of developing this model is twofold. Firstly, it would provide a clear picture of the system boundary. Second, it would provide a model to quantify the embodied energy of a building. Three possible approaches to cover the proposed system boundary are also recommended.

Environmental science & technology, Jan 15, 2015

Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly t... more Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly to the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon. The total life cycle energy use of a building is composed of embodied and operating energy. Embodied energy includes all energy required to manufacture and transport building materials, and construct, maintain, and demolish a building. For a systemic energy and carbon assessment of buildings, it is critical to use a whole life cycle approach, which takes into account the embodied as well as operating energy. Whereas the calculation of a building's operating energy is straightforward, there is a lack of a complete embodied energy calculation method. Although an input-output-based (IO-based) hybrid method could provide a complete and consistent embodied energy calculation, there are unresolved issues, such as an overdependence on price data and exclusion of the energy of human labor and capital inputs. This paper proposes a method f...

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012

ABSTRACT Buildings consume a vast amount of energy during the life cycle stages of construction, ... more ABSTRACT Buildings consume a vast amount of energy during the life cycle stages of construction, use and demolition. Total life cycle energy use in a building consists of two components: embodied and operational energy. Embodied energy is expended in the processes of building material production, on-site delivery, construction, maintenance, renovation and final demolition. Operational energy is consumed in operating the buildings. Studies have revealed the growing significance of embodied energy inherent in buildings and have demonstrated its relationship to carbon emissions.Current interpretations of embodied energy are quite unclear and vary greatly, and embodied energy databases suffer from the problems of variation and incomparability. Parameters differ and cause significant variation in reported embodied energy figures. Studies either followed the international Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) standards or did not mention compliance with any standard. Literature states that the current LCA standards fail to provide complete guidance and do not address some important issues. It also recommends developing a set of standards to streamline the embodied energy calculation process.This paper discusses parameters causing problems in embodied energy data and identifies unresolved issues in current LCA standards. We also recommend an approach to derive guidelines that could be developed into a globally accepted protocol.

RSC Adv., 2014

ABSTRACT Energy consumption is the main source of most anthropogenic carbon emissions. For effect... more ABSTRACT Energy consumption is the main source of most anthropogenic carbon emissions. For effectively reducing carbon emissions, a complete life cycle energy and carbon evaluation of products is important, which takes into account all primary and delivered energy used and lost in the manufacturing process. All delivered energy usage should be converted to primary energy units so that the actual total carbon emissions can be quantified. A set of constants, also known as primary energy factors (PEFs), are used to translate delivered energy into primary energy units. The PEFs can be converted into carbon emission factors (CEFs) using carbon intensities of fuels. To ensure completeness, a PEF for a delivered fuel should be calculated by including all direct and indirect energy consumed and lost in generating and supplying the delivered fuel. Literature points out the need to establish a standard and complete method to calculate PEFs and CEFs. In this paper, we investigate the current state of PEF calculation in order to establish a method to more completely calculate a PEF. We also calculated PEFs and CEFs for the United States’ economy using three methods to compare results and highlight the issue of energy double counting. The results demonstrate that a process or input-output-based hybrid method can cover most direct and indirect energy inputs and provide a complete PEF calculation.

Energy and Buildings, 2010

The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy and, owing to ... more The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy and, owing to current global population growth trends, this situation is projected to deteriorate in the near future. Buildings consume approximately 40 percent of total global energy: during the ...

This is an exploration of how the artificial environment links with the natural environment and r... more This is an exploration of how the artificial environment links with the natural environment and requires a conceptual construct that bridges these two environments. Palmer's General Schema Theory, a highly theoretical work, elaborated on in a dissertation by Fernández-Solís ...

Facilities, 2014

ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance,... more ABSTRACT Purpose ‐ The recurrent embodied energy (REE) is the energy consumed in the maintenance, replacement and retrofit processes of a facility. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the relationship of REE with the service life and life cycle embodied energy. The amount of variation in the reported REE values is also determined and discussed. Design/methodology/approach ‐ A qualitative approach that is known as the literature based discovery (LBD) was adopted. Existing literature was surveyed to gather case studies and to analyze the reported values of REE. Findings ‐ The reported values of REE showed considerable variation across referred studies. It was also found that the reported REE values demonstrated a moderate positive correlation with the service life but a very strong positive correlation with the life cycle embodied energy of both the residential and commercial facilities. Research limitations/implications ‐ This review paper pointed out the importance of the maintenance and replacement processes in reducing the life cycle energy use in a facility. Future research could focus on performing case studies to evaluate this relationship. Practical implications ‐ The findings highlight the significance of REE in reducing the life cycle energy impacts of a facility. As facility managers routinely deal with maintenance and replacement processes, they hold an important responsibility of reducing the life cycle energy. Originality/value ‐ The findings of the paper would motivate the facilities management professionals to prefer long service life materials and components during the postconstruction phases of a built facility.

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2013

ABSTRACT Buildings consume nearly 40% of global energy annually in their production, operation, m... more ABSTRACT Buildings consume nearly 40% of global energy annually in their production, operation, maintenance, replacement and demolition stages. Energy consumed in their life cycle stages other than the operation is called life cycle embodied energy. Total life cycle energy constitutes the building's embodied and operational energy over its service life. Operational energy constitutes a relatively larger fraction of life cycle energy in a conventional building. However, with the emergence of larger number of low energy buildings the significance of embodied energy is expected to grow. Current embodied energy calculations exhibit problems of variation, inaccuracy and incompleteness. System boundary definition is a key parameter that differs across studies and causes these problems, as studies define their system boundary subjectively. Research studies have proposed various system boundary models that should be applied to the buildings for life cycle analysis; however, the extent of their boundary definition differs. This paper gathers and synthesizes relevant literature opinions to develop a comprehensive system boundary model that can be adopted while performing the life cycle energy analysis of a building. The purpose of developing this model is twofold. Firstly, it would provide a clear picture of the system boundary. Second, it would provide a model to quantify the embodied energy of a building. Three possible approaches to cover the proposed system boundary are also recommended.

Environmental science & technology, Jan 15, 2015

Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly t... more Buildings alone consume approximately 40% of the annual global energy and contribute indirectly to the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon. The total life cycle energy use of a building is composed of embodied and operating energy. Embodied energy includes all energy required to manufacture and transport building materials, and construct, maintain, and demolish a building. For a systemic energy and carbon assessment of buildings, it is critical to use a whole life cycle approach, which takes into account the embodied as well as operating energy. Whereas the calculation of a building's operating energy is straightforward, there is a lack of a complete embodied energy calculation method. Although an input-output-based (IO-based) hybrid method could provide a complete and consistent embodied energy calculation, there are unresolved issues, such as an overdependence on price data and exclusion of the energy of human labor and capital inputs. This paper proposes a method f...

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2012

ABSTRACT Buildings consume a vast amount of energy during the life cycle stages of construction, ... more ABSTRACT Buildings consume a vast amount of energy during the life cycle stages of construction, use and demolition. Total life cycle energy use in a building consists of two components: embodied and operational energy. Embodied energy is expended in the processes of building material production, on-site delivery, construction, maintenance, renovation and final demolition. Operational energy is consumed in operating the buildings. Studies have revealed the growing significance of embodied energy inherent in buildings and have demonstrated its relationship to carbon emissions.Current interpretations of embodied energy are quite unclear and vary greatly, and embodied energy databases suffer from the problems of variation and incomparability. Parameters differ and cause significant variation in reported embodied energy figures. Studies either followed the international Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) standards or did not mention compliance with any standard. Literature states that the current LCA standards fail to provide complete guidance and do not address some important issues. It also recommends developing a set of standards to streamline the embodied energy calculation process.This paper discusses parameters causing problems in embodied energy data and identifies unresolved issues in current LCA standards. We also recommend an approach to derive guidelines that could be developed into a globally accepted protocol.

RSC Adv., 2014

ABSTRACT Energy consumption is the main source of most anthropogenic carbon emissions. For effect... more ABSTRACT Energy consumption is the main source of most anthropogenic carbon emissions. For effectively reducing carbon emissions, a complete life cycle energy and carbon evaluation of products is important, which takes into account all primary and delivered energy used and lost in the manufacturing process. All delivered energy usage should be converted to primary energy units so that the actual total carbon emissions can be quantified. A set of constants, also known as primary energy factors (PEFs), are used to translate delivered energy into primary energy units. The PEFs can be converted into carbon emission factors (CEFs) using carbon intensities of fuels. To ensure completeness, a PEF for a delivered fuel should be calculated by including all direct and indirect energy consumed and lost in generating and supplying the delivered fuel. Literature points out the need to establish a standard and complete method to calculate PEFs and CEFs. In this paper, we investigate the current state of PEF calculation in order to establish a method to more completely calculate a PEF. We also calculated PEFs and CEFs for the United States’ economy using three methods to compare results and highlight the issue of energy double counting. The results demonstrate that a process or input-output-based hybrid method can cover most direct and indirect energy inputs and provide a complete PEF calculation.

Energy and Buildings, 2010

The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy and, owing to ... more The building construction industry consumes a large amount of resources and energy and, owing to current global population growth trends, this situation is projected to deteriorate in the near future. Buildings consume approximately 40 percent of total global energy: during the ...

This is an exploration of how the artificial environment links with the natural environment and r... more This is an exploration of how the artificial environment links with the natural environment and requires a conceptual construct that bridges these two environments. Palmer's General Schema Theory, a highly theoretical work, elaborated on in a dissertation by Fernández-Solís ...