Monitoring and Visualization of Building Construction Embodied Carbon Footprint Using DnAR-N-Dimensional Augmented Reality Models

This paper presents a new carbon footprint monitoring tool that enables contractors and managers to reliably and effectively benchmark, monitor, and visualize expected and released embodied carbon footprint of a construction project. The proposed method is based on generating Dn_{AR - n dimensional augmented reality - models in which the expected and released embodied carbon footprint of a project are jointly represented in a common 3D environment. To accurately estimate the expected carbon footprint associated with different alternatives for material procurement and delivery to the jobsite, first the material information is queried from the underlying building information model. Next, using an embodied carbon footprint inventory associated with different materials and the distance of the suppliers to the jobsite, the expected carbon footprint is calculated for each construction schedule activity. In the meantime, the information from the contractor submittals is used to measure the released carbon footprint for the same activity. Finally, the expected and released carbon footprint associated with both material procurement and their delivery is compared in a new form similar to Earned Value Analysis and their deviations are visualized in the Dn}AR environment. The resulting visualization provides practitioners with an opportunity during coordination and submittal processes to not only insure timely delivery of materials, but also minimize the cradle-to-site carbon footprint of their projects. We present preliminary results from initial experiments of our proposed embodied carbon footprint monitoring system on a case study related to construction of a concrete substructure. The perceived benefits and applicability of the proposed method is further discussed in detail.