Building-related embodied impacts are growing and should not be ignored.  Ways of improving transparency in embodied impact assessments are proposed.  Actor-specific guidelines can foster integration of embodied impacts into practice.  The availability of quality-checked databases can support the entire process.  A number of strategies for the reduction of embodied impacts are demonstrated.

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The embodied energy/CO 2 of buildings in China and Japan, which reflects the characteristic industrial efficiency of building materials, is described in this paper. The energy consumption and CO 2 intensities for the dominant materials used in buildings are derived from the energy consumption in factories, and the energy consumption to produce equipment is derived from IO (input/output) analysis in order to compare the embodied energy/CO 2 for buildings between China and Japan based on the same estimation method. Although the energy consumption of structures in China is two to three times greater than in Japan, the interior finish and air conditioning equipment, for example, are simpler and smaller. As a result, the embodied energy/CO 2 of office buildings in China is only 10% to 20% greater than that of Japanese office buildings. Thus, the embodied energy/CO 2 of buildings depends on both industrial efficiencies and building design trends of the country.

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Abstract:In this study, we looked at a method quantifying EEC (embodied energy and CO 2 ) and the effect when we prolonged the building life time particularly through the durable improvement of the structure. Increasing the covering thickness of concrete for reinforcing bars and the earthquake-resistant strength are methods to increase the durability of the structure. The calculation method to obtain the quantity of concrete and reinforcing bars is provided. The EEC increase is evaluated from the 2005 input-output table in Japan. These results show that EE (embodied energy) in the construction phase is increased by 11% to 20% and EC (embodied CO 2 ) 17% to 32%. However, annual EE is reduced 66% to 72% and EC 70% to 79%.