BIM-based life cycle environmental performance assessment of single-family houses: Renovation and reconstruction strategies for aging building stock in British Columbia

Feng, Haibo; Liyanage, Don Rukmal; Karunathilake, Hirushie; Sadiq, Rehan; Hewage, Kasun

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.119543

Cited by 78 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…From the perspective of GHG emissions, the total GHG emissions of rebuilding strategy (5.41 × 10 7 kg) is lower than refurbishment strategy (7.38 × 10 7 ) during the research period, which means rebuilding strategy have a better performance than refurbishment. The results were also consistent with the research of Feng et al and Rønning et al, which in favor of the rebuilding strategy [ 25 , 26 ]. However, the emegy-based indicators of rebuilding strategy perform worse than refurbishment strategy.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The comparison of life cycle CO 2 emissions demonstrated that substantial environmental benefits can be obtained in both the refurbishment and rebuilding strategies [ 60 , 77 ]. On the other hand, the total CO 2 emissions of rebuilding strategy is lower than refurbishment strategy during the research period, which is clearly in favor of the rebuilding strategy [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, some previous comparison studies of refurbishment and rebuilding have other different opinions. A life cycle performance for 4 refurbishment scenarios and 2 reconstruction scenarios were investigated, the results showed that the rebuilding scenarios appear to be the better choice compared to refurbishment when the total life cycle emissions intensity is considered [ 25 ]. The same results were also gained by Rønning et al, which investigated a Norwegian bank through a hybrid LCA approach [ 26 ].…”

Section: Review Of Relevant Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Co-Benefits Analysis of Buildings Based on Different Renewal Strategies: The Emergy-Lca Approach

Cui

Hong

Liu

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Many cities have encountered challenges associated with rapid urban development, population growth and aging, in which urban renewal has become a promising option. Different renewal strategies, such as redevelopment, refurbishment and conservation, not only contributes to quality improvement and energy consumption reduction of dilapidated urban area, but also to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation. Such integrated benefits are often termed as co-benefits. However, choosing the most co-benefits strategy to adopt requires a holistic understanding of social-economic and environmental aspects, which has been less reported in the existing literature. Under such circumstance, this article aims to shed light on the co-benefits of different renewal strategies by adopting the Emergy-Life cycle assessment method. Then, the method is applied to one case study of the refurbishment of an educational building located in Chongqing, China. Resource allocation, CO2 emissions and emergy-based indicators are calculated to assess the co-benefits during a 60-year research period, to compare the impacts of the complete demolition followed by a new one (rebuilding strategy) and the refurbishing of the existing building (refurbishment strategy). The case study shows that the annual emergy in the O&M phase of rebuilding strategy and refurbishment strategy were lower than existing building. Rebuilding and refurbishment strategies released approximately 59.1% and 80.6%, respectively, of the total CO2 emissions that would be produced by the existing building. The results reveal that substantial environmental benefits can be obtained in both the refurbishment and rebuilding strategies. On the other hand, it can be concluded that the emergy yield ratio (EYR) for the rebuilding strategy is higher than refurbishment strategy, which demonstrate the better performance of refurbishment considering that less resources are required to generate greater benefits. In addition, the value of environmental loading ratio (ELR) and emergy sustainability index (ESI) also suggests that the refurbishment strategy performs better from the perspective of the environment. Thereby, the refurbishment strategy is more suitable than the rebuilding strategy. Findings from this study can be useful to urban planners and decision-makers in choosing the most suitable strategy to improve the quality of existing buildings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Review Of Relevant Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Co-Benefits Analysis of Buildings Based on Different Renewal Strategies: The Emergy-Lca Approach

Cui

Hong

Liu

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…If the import of data into the LCA tool is done manually, which is the most adopted approach, this procedure is very time-consuming, and introduces the risk of errors. Therefore, there are proposals regarding how to automate the exchange process [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Two studies established a fully automatic exchange of data between BIM and LCA [36,37].…”

Section: Classification Of the Integration Process/interoperabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

BIM and LCA Integration: A Systematic Literature Review

et al. 2020

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To foster sustainable development, the environmental impacts of the construction sector need to be reduced substantially. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the established methodology for the quantification of environmental impacts, and therefore has been increasingly applied to assess the environmental performance of buildings. By coupling LCAs with digital design tools, e.g., building information modeling (BIM), the identification of environmental hotspots and their mitigation is possible during the design process. The objective of the study is to identify the current integration approaches, and determine the pros and cons of the integration process from different viewpoints, namely, technical, informational, organizational and functional issues. Therefore, a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) was performed. We identified 60 relevant BIM-LCA case studies and analyzed the applied BIM-LCA workflows in detail. A total of 16 of the reviewed studies applied LCA during the early design stage. These studies used a manual or semiautomatic data exchange between the BIM models and LCA tools. In most cases, contemporary BIM-LCA workflows utilized conventional spreadsheets (e.g., Excel sheets in 16 cases). However, the analysis shows that an automated link between LCA and BIM can be achieved when overcoming the technical, organizational and informational issues discussed in the paper. This could enable the streamlining of LCA applications in design practice, and thus support the necessary improvements in the environmental performance of buildings.

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“…At present, the research landscape of the available approaches can be broadly categorized into two types of methods: physics-based engineering simulation of building energy use; and econometric modelling of building owner/occupant behavior and retrofit investment decisions. Several recent retrofit modelling studies that have focused on BC's building stock using these approaches are Feng et al (2020), Prabatha et al (2020), andSalter et al (2020). No survey-based assessment of building retrofits in Vancouver or BC are known.…”

Section: Expert Elicitation and Similar Retrofit Surveysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining the retrofit viability of Vancouver’s single-detached homes: an expert elicitation

McCarty

Scott

Rysanek

2021

Buildings and Cities

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The reduction in energy and emissions from the building sector can come from improved standards for new construction and retrofits to existing buildings. The retrofit viability for single-detached homes in Vancouver, Canada, is examined in terms of the key drivers and barriers involving economic and social forces. Local experts considered the likelihood of retrofits occurring to several archetypal dwellings that were synthesized from local building data and homeowner characteristics. The survey results (n = 56) raised less known but potentially significant issues regarding energy-efficiency retrofits in Vancouver. Domestic fuel switching, from fossil fuel energy services to electricity, is likely the most desirable future mechanism for decarbonizing homes. However, many of the respondents identified that Vancouver's real estate market has a significant negative influence on retrofitting due to high land values, which results in a high demolition rate of existing homes. Only 46% of responses returned a view that an existing home would remain standing by 2050. In addition, 41% of responses expressed a doubt that the dwelling, whether existing or new, would achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Both issues confront the City of Vancouver's current emissions reduction planning, which has targeted nearcomplete decarbonization of the residential building stock by 2050. POLICY RELEVANCENew construction is expected to account for only 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions reduction in Vancouver's building sector. The potential for deep retrofits of single detached houses appear to be unlikely due to current real estate market conditions involving several perceived disincentives, e.g. low financial payback, poor knowledge, transaction costs, and the opportunity cost of new construction. If the widespread retrofit of single detached houses is a goal for cities that have high land-to-building value ratios, then the alteration of current market conditions is necessary. A basket of coordinated policy measures can be deployed to counter current market forces and reduce the demolition of existing homes. Such measures could include retrofit and planning codes, energy labelling, innovative finance, and public education.

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BIM-based life cycle environmental performance assessment of single-family houses: Renovation and reconstruction strategies for aging building stock in British Columbia

Cited by 78 publications

References 31 publications

Co-Benefits Analysis of Buildings Based on Different Renewal Strategies: The Emergy-Lca Approach

Co-Benefits Analysis of Buildings Based on Different Renewal Strategies: The Emergy-Lca Approach

BIM and LCA Integration: A Systematic Literature Review

Determining the retrofit viability of Vancouver’s single-detached homes: an expert elicitation

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