Embodied emissions of buildings - A forgotten factor in green building certificates

Amiri, Ali; Emami, Nargessadat; Ottelin, Juudit; Sorvari, Jaana; Marteinsson, Björn; Heinonen, Jukka; Junnila, Seppo

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.110962

Cited by 41 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…In summary, the above studies suggest that the fundamental requirement of IGB is to reduce the load on the environment while also providing a safe, healthy and comfortable living space. It is environmentally friendly and achieves the harmonious coexistence and long-term progression of humans, architecture and the environment [89,90]. Its concept is in-line with the needs of smart city construction.…”

Section: Integration Of Smart Cities and Intelligent Green Buildingmentioning

confidence: 94%

Digital Twins for Intelligent Green Buildings

Yang

Wang

2022

Buildings

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At present, the integration of green building, the intelligent building industry and high-quality development are facing a series of new opportunities and challenges. This review aims to analyze the digital development of smart green buildings to make it easier to create contiguous ecological development areas in green ecological cities. It sorts out the main contents of Intelligent Green Buildings (IGB) and summarizes the application and role of Digital Twins (DTs) in intelligent buildings. Firstly, the basic connotations and development direction of IGB are deeply discussed, and the current realization and applications of IGB are analyzed. Then, the advantages of DTs are further investigated in the context of IGB for DT smart cities. Finally, the development trends and challenges of IGB are analyzed. After a review and research, it is found that the realization and application of IGB have been implemented, but the application of DTs remains not quite integrated into the design of IGB. Therefore, a forward-looking design is required when designing the IGBs, such as prioritizing sustainable development, people’s livelihoods and green structures. At the same time, an IGB can only show its significance after the basic process of building the application layer is performed correctly. Therefore, this review contributes to the proper integration of IGB and urban development strategies, which are crucial to encouraging the long-term development of cities, thus providing a theoretical basis and practical experience for promoting the development of smart cities.

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Section: Integration Of Smart Cities and Intelligent Green Buildingmentioning

confidence: 94%

Digital Twins for Intelligent Green Buildings

Yang

Wang

2022

Buildings

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“…[7,17]), building (e.g. [18][19][20]), national (e.g. [21,22]), and ultimately on a global level (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can future cities grow a carbon storage equal to forests?

Talvitie

Kinnunen

Amiri

et al. 2023

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Urban areas have experienced exponential growth since the industrial revolution and by virtue, the urban population has followed. Current projections suggest that this growth has yet to reach its peak implying that urban developments will continue to sprawl into untouched territories. This growth and subsequent sprawl will undoubtedly come at the expense of forested areas. This study presents a Carbon Storage Factor indicator for new urban developments. It is a novel concept which integrates urban planning, land use changes and wooden construction. The factor sets a carbon storage requirement for new urban areas that are developed at the expense of forested areas. The study is conducted in four parts. First, we estimate the carbon storage potential of forest areas via existing literature and databases. Then we collect all new development and construction estimates up to the year 2050 for the whole metropolitan region in Finland. Next, we conduct scenario analyses for different demand levels of wood in projected residential developments. Finally, we compare the carbon storage potential of the future building stock to the forest areas planned for development. The data used is provided by the regional authority. The results detail that the future residential building stock can store between 128–733 kt of carbon. The lower level implies that current construction methods can only partially preserve the carbon storage of an area in buildings. However, the higher level suggests future buildings to be able to exceed the carbon storage potential of forest areas by nearly 47 tC/ha. The study reminds that an increased use of wood is dependent on sustainable forest management practices. Furthermore, it is not our purpose to promote urban development into entirely new areas but rather encourage urban planners to consider the carbon balance when it is the only viable option.

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“…Amiri et al [9] also criticized LEED for Building Design and Construction (v4) for low points, with three (out of a total of 110 available points) that can be awarded for decreasing emissions related to the production of building materials. The authors conducted an environmental evaluation of the production of three building material scenarios, optimized concrete, hybrid concrete-wood, and wooden, applied to a modern educational facility at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik (Iceland), and concluded that in the LEED framework, hybrid and wooden buildings should obtain 8 and 14 points, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors conducted an environmental evaluation of the production of three building material scenarios, optimized concrete, hybrid concrete-wood, and wooden, applied to a modern educational facility at the University of Iceland in Reykjavik (Iceland), and concluded that in the LEED framework, hybrid and wooden buildings should obtain 8 and 14 points, respectively. Thus, Amiri et al [9] recommended increasing the weight of sustainable building materials to certify green buildings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Assessment Meeting Energy Standard Performance: An Office Building Case Study

Pushkar

Yezioro

2022

Buildings

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Transitioning from fossil to renewable energies, particularly photovoltaic (PV) energy, could influence building design in terms of environmental evaluation. The aim of this study was to rate a typical office building that complies with the Israeli Standard SI5282, Energy Rating of Buildings, and to evaluate it by life cycle assessment (LCA). An office building in Tel Aviv with four exterior wall construction technologies was modeled as follows: (1) a concrete-block-based wall with minimal windows; (2) a concrete-block-based wall with maximal windows; (3) an autoclaved aerated-block-based wall with minimal windows; and (4) an autoclaved aerated-block-based wall with maximal windows. The electricity sources used to support the building’s operational energy were: (i) 31% coal, 56% natural gas, and 13% PV (adopted in 2020); (ii) 8% coal, 57% natural gas, and 35% PV (planned for 2025); and (iii) 100% PV (planned for the future). A two-stage nested mixed analysis of variance was used to simultaneously evaluate the results of six ReCiPe2016 methodologies. The results show that as fossil fuels are replaced by PV energy production, there is a greater need to use LCA methodology in building design in conjunction with energy standards. The energy rating is recommended to be carried out with an environmental assessment of the production stage of construction. Ignoring the LCA results could lead to the misinterpretation of a building's sustainability.

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Embodied emissions of buildings - A forgotten factor in green building certificates

Cited by 41 publications

References 47 publications

Digital Twins for Intelligent Green Buildings

Digital Twins for Intelligent Green Buildings

Can future cities grow a carbon storage equal to forests?

Life Cycle Assessment Meeting Energy Standard Performance: An Office Building Case Study

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