Surveying & Built Environment Vol. 22 Issue 1 (December 2012)

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Modelling Gaseous Emissions from Energy Consumption during Building life Cycle Liyin Shen*, Vivian WY Tam** and Lei Zhang*** ABSTRACT It is well known that building and construction contribute a large part of emissions to the environment, and it is estimated that worldwide, the buildings and constructions sector is the second largest global carbon dioxide (CO 2) emitter after industry, representing approximately 33% of the global total. Therefore, improving sustainability performance through mitigating emissions in construction has become a pressing issue. This paper divides any building’s life cycle into seven elements: i) manufacture of building materials; ii) transportation of building materials; iii) construction; iv) operational life; v) maintenance and repair; vi) demolition; and vii) disposal of construction waste. We define eight types of gaseous emission during a building’s life cycle: CO 2, CH 4, N 2O, SO 2, CO, NO X, NMVOC and particulates. The paper analyzes the sources of gaseous emissions and presents a model for calculating the gaseous emissions during a building life cycle with particular reference to Hong Kong. The model helps evaluate the impact of building projects on air quality, from which strategies can be devised to reduce its environmental impact during a Building Life Cycle. A preliminary review of a case study of the construction stage is also discussed to show an application of the developed model. KEY WoRdS construction, building life cycle, gaseous emission, Hong Kong * Faculty of Construction Management and Real Estate, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China. Email: shenliyin@cqu.edu.cn ** Corresponding author, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematics, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia. Tel: (61) 02-4736-0105; Fax: (61) 02-4736- 0833; Email v.tam@uws.edu.au *** Department of Construction and Real Estate, School of Management, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China. Email: zhang@gu.edu.cn SBE 61
SBE 62 Modelling Gaseous Emissions from Energy Consumption during Building Life Cycle INTRoduCTIoN Gaseous emissions are generally defined as any substances emitted into the atmosphere by human and natural activities that can cause any current or future environmental problems. These include acidification and eutrophication, air quality degradation, global warming/climate change, damage and soiling of buildings and other structures, stratospheric ozone depletion, and human and ecosystem exposure to hazardous substances (European Environmental Agency, 2007). Atmospheric emission sources can be categorized into many types, such as power plants, factories, domestic households, offices and public buildings, cars and other vehicles, and there can be millions of distinct emitters in each type. The building and construction sector has been identified as the second largest global CO 2 emitter after industry, representing approximately 33% of the global total quantity (Ürge-Vorsatz and Novikova, 2008). Therefore, improving the sustainability performance through mitigating emissions in construction can contribute significantly to emission reduction and has become a pressing issue. Research has been conducted to analyse the CO 2 emission of buildings. Zhang conducted a life cycle assessment study on the reduction of CO 2 emissions of buildings (Zhang, 2002) and established an evaluation model to calculate a CO 2 emission index in a building’s life cycle. Guggemos conducted research on the environmental impact of onsite construction processes, focusing on structural frames and introduced a model to calculate quantities of energy use and gaseous emissions during the construction process (Guggemos, 2003). The Architectural Institute of Japan-Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, Residential LCA Method and Building LCA Calculating Method were developed in Japan, in 1996 and 1997 respectively, for assessing the energy demand and emissions of given buildings. In Europe, EcoEffect and Eco-Quantum methods for assessing environmental effects during the life cycle of a building were developed in 1998 (Zhang, 2002). Other work concerning building emissions includes several major assessments of available green building methods, such as the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) in Britain, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) in the United States, and the Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HKBEAM) in Hong Kong. BREEAM is a tool for surveyors and engineers to evaluate the life-cycle costs of a building. However, the system mainly focuses on the ecological and global effects of construction activities, such as the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted. There is less emphasis on issues like management and construction methods. HKBEAM is a classification system in which buildings are divided into four categories according to their environmental-friendliness. Finally LEED is a software tool used to measure the environmental performance of a building site on an operational level; that is, on-site technical information concerning daily environmental performance. A criticism of LEED is that it is concerned mainly with the technical aspect of environmental performance with very little emphasis on the management side.
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Information All rights reserved. No
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SBE 4 Contents Editorial Articles A
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SBE 6 documents (Hong Kong Special
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SBE 8 A Note on British Blockhouses
Page 11 and 12: SBE 10 A Note on British Blockhouse
Page 13 and 14: A Note on British Blockhouses in Ho
Page 21 and 22: SBE 20 Reconstructing The Early His
Page 39 and 40: SBE 38 Good Property Valuation in E
Page 61: SBE 60 Good Property Valuation in E
Page 65 and 66: SBE 64 Modelling Gaseous Emissions
Page 75 and 76: SBE 74 direct Geo-referencing and o
Page 77 and 78: SBE 76 Direct Geo-referencing and O
Page 89 and 90: SBE 88 Kadoorie Hill and footnote 4
Page 91 and 92: SBE 90 Kadoorie Hill and Footnote 4
Page 93 and 94: SBE 92 Definitions of Land Use Term
Page 95: SBE 94 Definitions of Land Use Term
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Surveying & Built Environment Vol. 22 Issue 1 (December 2012)

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