Construction Research Congress 2020
Integrating Embodied Impacts and Costs during Early Design Phase of Buildings: A Case Study
Publication: Construction Research Congress 2020: Project Management and Controls, Materials, and Contracts
ABSTRACT
The production of building materials has brought in severe environmental issues such as pollution and global warming due to the large amount of energy consumed and the massive carbon dioxide (CO2) released in the atmosphere. With further green building development, the savings on embodied energy and embodied emissions of buildings are becoming more important. Selection of building systems and materials takes place during the early design phase and significantly influences the embodied impacts of a building. Therefore, embodied impacts of materials and systems during the design phase of a building should be a major consideration. The aim of this paper is to introduce a conceptual model for integrating embodied energy and emissions of the alternative structural and envelope systems of a building during the design phase. The model calculates embodied energy and emissions, as well as, costs of alternative structural and envelope systems to assist designers making an informed decision in selecting these systems. An educational building is used as a case study to demonstrate application of the model. The case study demonstrated that the model can provide embodied energy, embodied emissions, and cost of alternative structural and envelope systems to allow designers make informed decisions at the early design phase.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Dustin Stephany of University of Florida’s Planning, Design, and Construction for providing design documents of Heavener Hall used in this study.
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Published In
Construction Research Congress 2020: Project Management and Controls, Materials, and Contracts
Pages: 925 - 933
Editors: David Grau, Ph.D., Arizona State University, Pingbo Tang, Ph.D., Arizona State University, and Mounir El Asmar, Ph.D., Arizona State University
ISBN (Online): 978-0-7844-8288-9
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Nov 9, 2020
Published in print: Nov 9, 2020
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