Embodied Carbon Emissions of Construction Materials: A Case Study of Buildings in Thailand (original) (raw)
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IOSR Journal of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, 2014
Traditionally, the choice of construction materials depended principally on the strengths of materials, cost of material, availability of materials, simplicity of erection, aesthetics and technical expertise available to the society. This meant that little attention was paid to the environment impacts of materials adopted for civil construction. After centuries of speedy advancement accompanied by deteriorating ecosystem as evidenced by the global climate change and the accompanying gap between the rich and the poor, the world is becoming more conscious of the ecosystem and the future of mankind. This has led to the growing quest for sustainable development. In the more recent years, environmental and sustainability factors are becoming compelling factors in the choice of construction materials. Researches focused on materials for affordable houses for the increasing low income masses are on the increase. This research focuses on the environmental impact performance of concrete and timber applied to a modest duplex residential building. It explores using Athena Impact Estimator software to model the greenhouses gases expressed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents, sulphur dioxide equivalents, phosphate equivalents and ethane equivalents potentials obtainable from using concrete or timber to build a duplex residential building. From the various results obtained, it is very evident that timber construction is more eco-friendly in terms of carbon emission reduction which translates to reducing global warming, thermal insulation and energy efficiency. This will be helpful in making choice for building materials to be adopted for affordable houses developing countries.
Journal of Construction Engineering, Management & Innovation, 2019
Being one of the primary contributors to global GHG emissions, the construction industry has been the focus of many recent studies. The process of manufacturing and transporting of building materials, and installing and constructing of buildings consumes great energy and emits a large quantity of greenhouse gas. This study identifies the sources of GHG emissions during building construction phase and estimates the GHG emissions from those sources for a case building in Bangladesh, following the process-based methodology. The results for the case building show that about 98.38% of total emissions are due to the manufacture and transportation of building materials, 1.31% is due to energy consumption during the construction period and only 0.31% are due to waste disposals, while concrete and brickworks are the most contributing materials to the GHG emissions, about 35.22% and 48.67% respectively. This study has been conducted in Bangladesh as the concern for GHG emissions in building construction is not satisfactory here yet. It also proposes a set of unique strategies, such as, using recycled building materials, especially recycled steel, as well as, transporting building materials by sea, re-using wooden waste materials and using hardwood plywood in place of non-load bearing brick walls and demonstrates the reduction of GHG emission numerically by applying these strategies, which are the originalities of this study.
IMPACT OF EMBODIED CARBON IN THE LIFE CYCLE OF BUILDINGS ON CLIMATE CHANGE FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
According to the literature approximately 40% of global energy in 2007 has been using in the buildings which is responsible for 30% of total carbon emission. This human-induced carbon emissions cause climate change by increasing global temperature. In this sense, energy consumption in the life cycle of buildings results in two different components: embodied carbon and operational carbon. Embodied carbon, encompasses extraction and processing of raw materials; manufacturing, transportation and distribution; use, reuse, maintenance, recycling and disposal. Operational energy is consumed in operating the buildings, e.g. heating and cooling systems, lighting, and home appliances which accomplish some household functions. A number of measures and targets have been introduced, including various fiscal and regulatory instruments to handle climate change and move towards low and zero carbon buildings. Overall, the increase in efficiency of energy use is as vital as production of energy and results in direct or indirect energy savings, and subsequently mitigates high energy cost. The aim of this paper is to highlight the impact of "different strategies" on embodied energy and ultimately on the environment. This concern provides a more integrative approach to calculate a building's embodied carbon in the housing life cycle assessment considering the following strategies: 1. Choice of construction materials such as wood and glass etc… When designing buildings 2. Minimizing distance between building and raw material supply 3. Choosing recyclability in building materials and parts 4. Minimization of building-related waste during the construction processes 5. Planning in accordance with recent efforts for standardization of embodied carbon in the buildings.
2010
The embodied energy (EE) of a residential building is estimated at 20-40% of operation energy over its total usable life. However, this varies from one context to the other due to the primary energy used, technological advancement of a particular context and the methods used for the inventory analysis. Despite the lack of monetary value, EE analysis (EEA) is recommended for the selection of building materials at the design stage in terms of environmental loads. However, little attention has been paid to this area in developing countries, particularly, the Sub-Saharan Africa. Due to the increasing demand of building materials deemed to rise with urbanisation in this region, the acceleration of environmental impacts is also inevitable. Therefore, data based tools are required to complement the existing policy and regulatory frameworks. In this study, EE of masonry and roof components of low-cost housing in Malawi will be assessed. The process based-hybrid energy analysis is employed to evaluate energy and the greenhouse gases related to the manufacturing, transportation of building materials and the assembling and maintenance of the entire residential building. This paper in particular, presents part of the conceptual framework of the study focusing on EE analysis especially the methods used and the associated problems based the literature review. So far, it is noted that the inventory analysis stage, which involves the evaluation of energy requirements, is the essential part of the EEA because of the various methods employed. Although the existing methods are sufficient relative to the available data, there is an urgency to increase the process data sets to enhance the reliability of the existing methods. Therefore, in addition to enhancing knowledge and understanding of life-cycle thinking to the construction stakeholders and decision makers in the selection of building materials, this study will also contribute to such data.