Analysis of Embodied Environmental Impacts of Korean Apartment Buildings Considering Major Building Materials

Roh, Seungjun; Tae, Sungho; Kim, Rakhyun

doi:10.3390/su10061693

Cited by 18 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…The correct choice of materials is capable of generating substantial environmental deflation throughout the complete life cycle of the building [29][30][31]. However, the use of these alternative technologies has been limited due to the incorrect assumption that buildings with high energy efficiency are also more costly to construct, and thus, from an economic perspective, are of less interest to developers [32,33].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cradle to Handover Life Cycle Assessment of External Walls: Choice of Materials and Prognosis of Elements

et al. 2018

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This research focuses on a comparison of 20 external wall systems that are conventionally used in Spanish residential buildings, from a perspective based on the product and construction process stages of the life cycle assessment. The primary objective is to provide data that allow knowing the environmental behavior of walls built with materials and practices conventionally. This type of analysis will enable promoting the creation of regulations that encourage the use of combinations of materials that generate the most environmentally suitable result, and in turn, contribute to the strengthening of the embodied stages study of buildings and their elements. The results indicate that the greatest impact arises in the product stage (90.9%), followed by the transport stage (8.9%) and the construction process stage (<1%). Strategies (such as the use of large-format pieces and the controlled increase in thickness of the thermal insulation) can contribute to reducing the environmental impact; on the contrary, practices such as the use of small-format pieces and laminated plasterboard can increase the environmental burden. The prediction of the environmental behavior (simulation equation) allows these possible impacts to be studied in a fast and simplified way.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Cradle to Handover Life Cycle Assessment of External Walls: Choice of Materials and Prognosis of Elements

et al. 2018

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“…Establishing a Database of Material Input Quantities Table 1 presents the number of buildings of each structure type and plan form (n = 443), to enable extrapolation to all apartment buildings constructed in South Korea. For each building, we established the input quantities of the six major construction materials, resulting in a database of input quantities per unit area [41]. The major construction materials selected in this study are RMC, rebar, concrete brick, glass, insulation, and gypsum board.…”

Section: Establishing Probability Density Functions Of Major Construcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Presentation of the research findings on embodied environmental impacts in an easily understandable manner, given that comparison and interpretation of evaluation results concern different environmental impact categories and their respective standard materials. To address this problem, a new, integrated approach known as environmental cost has recently been introduced, in which end-point environmental problems attributable to various environmental impacts are presented as monetary values [41,42].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Evaluation of the embodied environmental impacts of all existing buildings, by employing a sufficient number of samples considering different buildings in terms of structure type and plan form, and estimating their characteristics; because an analysis of embodied environmental impacts based on only a small number of buildings cannot be considered representative of all existing buildings [41].…”

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confidence: 99%

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Probabilistic Analysis of Major Construction Materials in the Life Cycle Embodied Environmental Cost of Korean Apartment Buildings

et al. 2019

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This study employs probabilistic analysis to evaluate the life cycle embodied environmental cost of Korean apartment buildings, with a focus on six major construction materials. To this end, the bill of materials was analyzed for 443 Korean apartment buildings according to the type and plan form, and probability density functions (PDFs) were established for the input quantities of the six materials under consideration. Life cycle scenarios were then examined for each material, and their respective life cycle embodied environmental cost factors were established, using a monetary valuation-based damage cost life cycle analysis model. The estimated environmental costs were evaluated by apartment structural type and plan form, based on probability distributions using the Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). Building life cycle embodied environmental cost was estimated between 16.87 USD/m2 and 23.03 USD/m2 (90% confidence interval). Among the structure types analyzed, the highest costs were associated with the wall structure, followed by rigid frame and flat plate structures; at the plan form level, costs followed the sequence plate-type > mixed-type > tower type for a given type of structure.

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“…However, practical limitations in the adoption of this method in building assessment have often been addressed in the literature. In particular, two concerns related to LCA result robustness have been debated by several authors: (i) data inputs' uncertainties and (ii) data forecast in a long term perspective [11][12][13].…”

Section: State Of the Artmentioning

confidence: 99%

Building Retrofit Measures and Design: A Probabilistic Approach for LCA

et al. 2018

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Green building design and architecture have become widespread tenets in the development of sustainable buildings. In this context, the use of sustainable materials and the awareness of resource/energy consumption are strategic aspects to consider for the improvement of building performances. This paper presents a new and structured approach to address uncertainty and sensitivity analysis in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to support the decision-making process in building renovation. This “probabilistic” approach to LCA allows for the obtaining of results expressed as ranges of environmental impacts and for alternative solutions, offering an idea of the meaning of input parameters’ uncertainties and their influence on the result. The approach includes (i) the assessment of inputs’ uncertainties (represented by Probability Density Functions—PDF); (ii) the data sampling; and (iii) the uncertainty propagation (Monte Carlo method). Variance decomposition techniques have been used to sample inputs’ PDFs and assess their impact on the LCA result distribution (sensitivity analysis). The methodology application is illustrated through a case study where three building retrofit measures were assessed. Results provide an insight about the uncertainties of LCA indicators in terms of climate change and nonrenewable energy. The input parameters related to the use phase are confirmed as the most influential in building LCA.

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Analysis of Embodied Environmental Impacts of Korean Apartment Buildings Considering Major Building Materials

Cited by 18 publications

References 35 publications

A Cradle to Handover Life Cycle Assessment of External Walls: Choice of Materials and Prognosis of Elements

A Cradle to Handover Life Cycle Assessment of External Walls: Choice of Materials and Prognosis of Elements

Probabilistic Analysis of Major Construction Materials in the Life Cycle Embodied Environmental Cost of Korean Apartment Buildings

Building Retrofit Measures and Design: A Probabilistic Approach for LCA

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