The Experts below are selected from a list of 5337 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jack Chin Pang Cheng - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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A comprehensive approach to mitigation of Embodied Carbon in reinforced concrete buildings
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2019Co-Authors: Vincent J.l. Gan, Jack Chin Pang ChengAbstract:Abstract The building sector represents nearly one third of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in which the Embodied Carbon of reinforced concrete is recognized as a significant source of the GHG emissions. Developing low Carbon reinforced concrete buildings is an important strategy to achieve the long term sustainability in urban cities. However, the large variability and the combined effect of different reinforced concrete design parameters during the production stage presents considerable effects on the total Embodied Carbon of buildings, which were not fully explored in literature. Thus, this study aims to develop a systematic approach to quantify the detailed relationship between different concrete design parameters and their combined effects, thereby helping mitigate the building GHG emissions. The proposed approach takes into account the parameters that have significant effects on the Embodied Carbon of reinforced concrete, and studies different variations of reinforced concrete designs to minimize the Carbon emissions. The results of this study serve as a decision support basis for improving the building design in regard to Carbon reduction. In an illustrative example, the proposed approach is examined to compare the Embodied Carbon for different material design scenarios and to suggest the material choice for a lower Embodied Carbon in concrete buildings.
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Sustainability Analyses of Embodied Carbon and Construction Cost in High-rise Buildings Using Different Materials and Structural Forms
HKIE Transactions, 2017Co-Authors: Vincent J.l. Gan, Chun Man Chan, Kam Tim Tse, Jack Chin Pang ChengAbstract:ABSTRACTUnderstanding the impact of material choices and structural forms on the Embodied Carbon and construction cost in high-rise buildings is important to improve building designs with regard to sustainability. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of the choice of construction materials and structural forms on the Embodied Carbon and construction cost of high-rise buildings. The results show that high-rise buildings using structural steel have the highest construction cost at 4575 HK$/m2 and the most Embodied Carbon at 760 kg CO2-e/m2, respectively. Using reinforced concrete for high-rise buildings reduces 30% of the Embodied Carbon (to 4194 HK$/m2) and 7% of the construction cost (to 537 kg CO2-e/m2). High-rise buildings using composite materials have the lowest construction cost (3740 HK$/m2), but produce slightly more Embodied Carbon (557 kg CO2-e/m2) than concrete buildings. For a specific structural form, the construction cost and the Embodied Carbon as a function of the buildi...
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A comparative analysis of Embodied Carbon in high-rise buildings regarding different design parameters
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017Co-Authors: Vincent J.l. Gan, Chun Man Chan, Kam Tim Tse, Jack Chin Pang ChengAbstract:Abstract The building sector accounts for one third of the global greenhouse gas emissions, of which a substantial amount is Embodied Carbon from construction material production. While previous studies concentrated on analyzing the Carbon emissions of low-rise buildings, they have overlooked high-rise buildings, which also have large impacts on the Carbon emissions of a city. Moreover, high-rise buildings use different construction materials and structural forms, resulting in large variability in their Embodied Carbon estimates. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the relationships between different design parameters and the Embodied Carbon in high-rise buildings. The results serve as a basis for making more environmentally-sustainable decisions when designing high-rise buildings in order to reduce the Carbon emissions from the building sector. Different high-rise buildings are designed by varying the construction materials (namely reinforced concrete, structural steel and composite materials), recycled contents (steel scrap and cement substitutes), structural forms (i.e., core-frame, core-outrigger, tube-in-tube and mega-brace) and building heights. The Embodied Carbon values are evaluated and compared, by considering the Carbon emissions from material manufacture and transportation. Given the same structural form and building height, steel buildings have 50–60% less total weight, but 25–30% more Embodied Carbon than composite and reinforced concrete buildings. If 80% of the steel used in buildings is recycled, the Embodied Carbon in steel buildings is reduced by around 60% and becomes the least among all buildings. The Embodied Carbon per floor area against building height follows a concave upward trend, indicating that each structural form has a suggested height range where Embodied Carbon is minimum. When the building height exceeds the suggested height range, the structural efficiency of the building decreases with considerable growths in material demand and Embodied Carbon.
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developing a co 2 e accounting method for quantification and analysis of Embodied Carbon in high rise buildings
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017Co-Authors: Jack Chin Pang Cheng, Irene M C Lo, Chun Man ChanAbstract:Abstract Considerable amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in buildings are Embodied Carbon from the manufacturing processes and transportation of various construction materials. Reduction of Embodied Carbon in buildings becomes important in the context of limiting GHG emissions into atmosphere. However, previous studies focused on analysis of low-rise buildings while high-rise buildings were seldom evaluated. Therefore, this study aims to develop a method used for the quantification and analysis of Embodied Carbon in high-rise buildings. The proposed method is used to evaluate the impacts of different procurement strategies (e.g., the choice of material manufacturing processes, the amounts of recycled steel scrap and cement substitutes, and the source locations), based on a case study of Embodied Carbon for a 60-story composite core-outrigger reference building (i.e., the most commonly-used structure in high-rise building design). The results show that structural steel and rebar from traditional blast furnace account for 80% of the Embodied Carbon in the core-outrigger building, while ready-mixed concrete contributes only 20%. If steel is produced from electric arc furnace with 100% recycled steel scrap as the feedstock, the Embodied Carbon of the building can be reduced by over 60%. As for ready-mixed concrete, 10–20% Embodied Carbon reduction in buildings can be achieved by utilizing cement substitutes (35% fly ash or 75% slag). However, using concrete with large amounts of cement substitutes has longer setting periods and affects the construction time. In projects with strict construction schedules, contractors may use less cement substitutes, leading to increased Embodied Carbon emissions in buildings. When large amounts of recycled steel and cement substitutes are used in construction, the Carbon emissions from transportation can increase up to 20% of the Embodied Carbon in a building. In such cases, a trade-off analysis considering both the Embodied Carbon and the material availability is needed in order to determine the optimal source locations.
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Development of a Local Embodied Carbon Database for Construction Materials
2013Co-Authors: Jack Chin Pang Cheng, Jielong Gan, Ran Jing, Jingliang ZhangAbstract:According to WWF, the construction sector was the second largest contributor to Hong Kong Carbon footprint and emitted nearly 4 million tons of Carbon dioxide in 2007. In addition to the operational Carbon generated during building operation and maintenance, the Embodied Carbon of construction materials also contributes a significant part of the life cycle Carbon emission in the built environment. Studies have shown that the Embodied Carbon of buildings is close to the operational Carbon over 20 years, and contributes more than 30% of the life cycle Carbon emission of buildings. In Hong Kong’s construction sector, 85% of its Carbon footprint was Embodied in imported goods and services. Therefore, it is crucial to study the Embodied Carbon of construction materials and select the low Carbon materials in order to achieve a low Carbon built environment. This project aims to develop a local Embodied Carbon database, namely ECO-CM (Embodied Carbon Of Construction Material), for the commonly used construction materials in Hong Kong. A “Cradle-to-Site” life cycle boundary was used in the ECO-CM database, which includes raw materials extraction and transportation, material manufacturing, and product transportation to the use site. As the fuel mix and material manufacturing and delivery in different areas may vary substantially, Embodied Carbon values are region-specific. Therefore, first hand data were collected from the material vendors through questionnaires for calculation. The methodology framework used in the development of the ECO-CM database is presented and illustrated in this paper. The completed ECO-CM database will provide a basis for selection of green materials, development of Carbon labels, and estimation of building facility Carbon footprint, thereby helping to construct a low Carbon Hong Kong.
Barbara X. Rodriguez - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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mechanical electrical plumbing and tenant improvements over the building lifetime estimating material quantities and Embodied Carbon for climate change mitigation
Energy and Buildings, 2020Co-Authors: Kathrina Simonen, Barbara X. Rodriguez, Monica Huang, Hyun Woo Lee, Jim DittoAbstract:Abstract The building industry is expanding its ability to mitigate the environmental impacts of buildings through the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). Most building LCA studies focus on core and shell (C&S) and rarely assess mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and tenant improvements (TI). However, C&S typologies in the commercial sector pose particular challenges to achieving net zero Carbon due to the numerous renovations these building undergo through during their service life. MEP and TI are installed multiple times over the lifetime of commercial buildings leading to cumulative environmental impact caused by increasing material quantities and Embodied Carbon (EC). This study aimed to establish a preliminary range of material quantities and Embodied Carbon impacts for MEP and TI components, focusing on commercial office buildings in the Pacific Northwest. The first research stage involved quantifying material quantities while a second stage aimed to calculate Embodied Carbon Coefficients (ECC) and LCA impacts using different data sources. The Embodied Carbon estimates ranged from 40 to 75 kg CO2e/m2 for MEP and 45–135 kg CO2e/m2 for TI. However, with recurring instalments during a life span of 60 years the impacts become comparable to known impacts of core and shell systems.
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Benchmarking the Embodied Carbon of Buildings
Technology|Architecture + Design, 2017Co-Authors: Kathrina Simonen, Barbara X. Rodriguez, Catherine De WolfAbstract:Greenhouse gas emissions from extracting and manufacturing building materials, often termed “Embodied Carbon,” are produced before buildings are occupied and are more critical to meeting global cli...
Xin Zhao - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Embodied Carbon Based Integrated Optimal Seismic Design for Super Tall Buildings with Viscoelastic Coupling Dampers
Procedia Engineering, 2015Co-Authors: Xin Zhao, Lang QinAbstract:Abstract With the development of urban construction and building technology, more and more super tall buildings have been built. Due to its huge material and energy assumption, super tall buildings exert great impact on the environment. Embodied Carbon is an important tool to measure the environmental impacts of super tall buildings, including the Carbon emissions in the process of raw materials processing, structural member manufacturing and transportation. The Embodied Carbonof super tall buildings could be optimized by integrating the energy dissipation devices in the structural system. Viscoelastic coupling dampers(VCDs) is a kind of efficient energy dissipation devices. By replacing coupling beams in structural configurations, VCDs can effectively increase the level of inherent damping of structures, and thus reduce the wind-induced and earthquake-induced dynamic vibrations. Since the internal forces of structural members subject to lateral loads can also be reduced due to additional damping introduced by VCDs, optimization for the sectional dimension of structural components is made possible, accompanied by reductions to Embodied Carbon. Embodied Carbon based integrated structural design method is introduced in this paper to minimize the Embodied Carbon of structures by integrating the VCDs. A super tall building located in high seismicity area is presented as an example to illustrate the proposed integrated optimal design method. The design case analysis results for a real super tall building project show that the proposed method is reasonable and can effectively reduce Embodied Carbon and total cost of super tall buildings.
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Structural System Embodied Carbon Analysis for Super Tall Buildings
Procedia Engineering, 2015Co-Authors: Xin Zhao, M.a. HaojiaAbstract:Abstract Building construction has been the main fields of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission in the world nowadays. With the increase of building height, the amount of Carbon dioxide discharged by the building has increased significantly during the entire life cycle. The impact of super tall buildings on the environment has drawn increasing attention due to the huge energy and material consumption. In the life cycle of the building, the Carbon emissions are composed of three parts, say Embodied Carbon, operating Carbon and demolition and disposal Carbon. Embodied Carbon of structural system contributes the most Carbon emission during the construction stage of a supper tall building and thus is an important index to measure the environmental impacts of different structural systems for a given super tall building. The Embodied Carbons and environmental costs of typical super tall building structures for different structural systems are thoroughly analyzed in this study. The distribution of Embodied Carbons of critical structural members, such as the frame columns, central core walls, structural floors and outrigger trusses are also discussed. At last, this paper analyses the fundamental factors which influence the environmental costs, and the analysis results will provide a guide for the sustainable structural design of super tall buildings.
Alice Moncaster - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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furthering Embodied Carbon assessment in practice results of an industry academia collaborative research project
Energy and Buildings, 2018Co-Authors: Francesco Pomponi, Alice Moncaster, Catherine Elvire L. De WolfAbstract:In order to meet the mid-century Carbon reduction targets and to mitigate climate change and global warming it is imperative that Embodied Carbon in the built environment receives immediate attention from policy, industry and academia. To shed light on how to accelerate a wider uptake of Embodied Carbon assessments in buildings, an industry academia collaboration was funded by Innovate UK and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Implementing Whole Life Carbon in Buildings (IWLCiB) has been the resulting project, a cooperative endeavour led by key academics and practitioners in the UK. Over the course of the project, three independent environmental consultants have produced a total of fifteen Embodied Carbon assessments across various building types, all starting from the same information including building specification and bill of quantities. These assessments have then been reviewed and analysed in detail by the academic team to establish similarities, differences, and common challenges and pitfalls. This paper reports on the project’s numerical findings by life cycle stages and building type. Detailed results are presented for each of the five case studies, showing elements of agreement and, most often, of variation. Additionally, each of the life cycle stages as defined by the TC350 standards is analysed both numerically and in terms of its contribution towards the whole life Embodied Carbon. The results show that significant discrepancies consistently exist even when the initial information available to the assessors is the same. The many assumptions that are necessary throughout the assessments inevitably present a barrier to consistency and convergence of the outputs. The numerical analysis also reveals that all life cycle stages account for important shares of the whole life Carbon, and that therefore partial assessments – e.g. cradle-to-gate - are not sufficient if Carbon reductions are to be realistically achieved. Yet, life cycle assessment remains the best tool for environmentally informed decision making. Future research in the field should continue to address the challenges identified in this article and work towards greater understanding and reliability of the numbers produced.
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Reducing Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment: A Research Agenda
2016Co-Authors: Francesco Pomponi, Alice MoncasterAbstract:In spite of significant global efforts, the International Energy Agency suggests that buildings-related emissions are on track to double by 2050. Whilst operational energy efficiency continues to receive significant attention by researchers, a less well-researched area is the assessment of Embodied Carbon in the built environment in order to understand where the greatest opportunities for its mitigation and reduction lie. This paper reports on available mitigation strategies to tackle Embodied Carbon identified through a systematic review of the available academic evidence. It also investigates the scope and scale of current academic investigations to highlight where significant gaps are for impactful further research on the topic. In total, 17 mitigation strategies have been identified from within the existing literature which have been discussed individually. Results reveal that a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to yield beneficial results and future research should be diverse in breadth and scope, locally accurate, and significantly interdisciplinary.
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Stand-alone Calculation Tools are not the Answer to Embodied Carbon Assessment☆
Energy Procedia, 2014Co-Authors: Chamindika I. Ariyaratne, Alice MoncasterAbstract:Abstract Recent studies have shown that the importance of Embodied Carbon is growing in relation to assessing the environmental impact of buildings. This paper investigates how designers are looking to tackle this, and the effectiveness of some of the methods chosen. Although a number of commercial and non-commercial organisations are developing in-house tools to calculate Embodied Carbon, these lack the flexibility to be adopted by a wide range of users as well as the efficiency required to be appealing to designers at the early stages of a design. An alternative to these stand-alone tools is offered through the functionality of Building Information Modelling (BIM) software, which is capable of incorporating Embodied Carbon assessments as part of the normal design process. The potential of plug-in tools to obtain Embodied Carbon data from suppliers is an area that remains to be explored further.
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How much do we spend to save? Calculating the Embodied Carbon costs of retrofit
2012Co-Authors: Daniela Sahagun, Alice MoncasterAbstract:The drive to reduce Carbon emissions from domestic housing has led to a recent shift of focus from new-build to retrofit. However there are two significant differences. Firstly more work is needed to retrofit existing housing to the same energy efficiency standards as new-build. Secondly the remaining length of service life is potentially shorter. This implies that the capital expenditure – both financial and Carbon - of retrofit may be disproportionate to the savings gained over the remaining life. However the Government’s definition of low and zero Carbon continues to exclude the capital (Embodied) Carbon costs of construction, which has resulted in a lack of data for comparison. The paper addresses this gap by reporting the Embodied Carbon costs of retrofitting four individual pilot properties in Rampton Drift, part of an Eco-Town Demonstrator Project in Cambridgeshire. Through collecting details of the materials used and their journeys from manufacturer to site, the paper conducts a ‘cradle-to-gate’ life cycle Carbon assessment for each property. The Embodied Carbon figures are calculated using a software tool being developed by the Centre for Sustainable Development at the University of Cambridge. The key aims are to assess the real Embodied Carbon costs of retrofit of domestic properties, and to test the new tool; it is hoped that the methodology, the tool and the specific findings will be transferable to other projects. Initial changes in operational energy as a result of the retrofit works will be reported and compared with the Embodied Carbon costs when presenting this paper.
Jim Ditto - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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mechanical electrical plumbing and tenant improvements over the building lifetime estimating material quantities and Embodied Carbon for climate change mitigation
Energy and Buildings, 2020Co-Authors: Kathrina Simonen, Barbara X. Rodriguez, Monica Huang, Hyun Woo Lee, Jim DittoAbstract:Abstract The building industry is expanding its ability to mitigate the environmental impacts of buildings through the application of life cycle assessment (LCA). Most building LCA studies focus on core and shell (C&S) and rarely assess mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) and tenant improvements (TI). However, C&S typologies in the commercial sector pose particular challenges to achieving net zero Carbon due to the numerous renovations these building undergo through during their service life. MEP and TI are installed multiple times over the lifetime of commercial buildings leading to cumulative environmental impact caused by increasing material quantities and Embodied Carbon (EC). This study aimed to establish a preliminary range of material quantities and Embodied Carbon impacts for MEP and TI components, focusing on commercial office buildings in the Pacific Northwest. The first research stage involved quantifying material quantities while a second stage aimed to calculate Embodied Carbon Coefficients (ECC) and LCA impacts using different data sources. The Embodied Carbon estimates ranged from 40 to 75 kg CO2e/m2 for MEP and 45–135 kg CO2e/m2 for TI. However, with recurring instalments during a life span of 60 years the impacts become comparable to known impacts of core and shell systems.