Life Cycle Assessment of Embodied Carbon and Strategies for Decarbonization of a High-Rise Residential Building

Alotaibi, Badr S.; Khan, Sahil; Abuhussain, Mohammed Awad; Al-Tamimi, Nedhal; Elnaklah, Rana; Kamal, Mohammad Arif

doi:10.3390/buildings12081203

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The theoretical approach is tested and validated against experimental measurements conducted during the winter months. The validated theoretical approach is then employed to predict the system performance for the variation in following parameters: air gap width variations (2, 4, 6, and 10 cm), massive wall thickness ranging from 15 to 35 cm with 5 cm increments, channel width options (3,5,10,15, and 20 cm), and vent heights ranging from 5 to 20 cm in 5 cm increments. In addition, an investigation into the effect of replacing the air in the air gap with inert gases, specifically argon, krypton, and a mixture of these gases with air has been carried out.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notably, the building industry carries a significant portion of the responsibility, accounting for around 40% of worldwide energy consumption and 36% of carbon dioxide emissions. 2,3 To overcome these issues, one of the essential solutions is adoption of renewable energy sources. Renewable energy is now one of the most promising technologies for powering and heating buildings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the impact of Trombe wall parameters on thermal performance and room temperature in the Iraqi climate

Ali,

Mawlood,

Jalal

2024

Heat Trans

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Trombe wall serves as an effective passive heating element, and its performance is heavily reliant on local climate conditions. This study involved both experimental and numerical analyses of a full‐scale test room equipped with a Trombe wall under Iraqi climate conditions. To facilitate this investigation, an experimental test room was constructed in Kirkuk city with dimensions of 4.0 m × 3.0 m × 2.75 m. In addition, a numerical simulation method based on computational fluid dynamics was developed and a computer code was created to investigate the performance of the system. The accuracy of the developed numerical approach was validated against experimental data collected from the test room. This analysis was conducted specifically for the period of February 17–18, which represents the coldest month of winter in the study area. The performance of the system was assessed with respect to various parameters; air gap width variations (2, 4, 6, and 10 cm), massive wall thickness ranging from 15 to 35 cm with 5 cm increments, channel width options (3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 cm), and vent heights ranging from 5 to 20 cm in 5 cm increments. Furthermore, an investigation of the impact of replacing the air in the air gap with inert gases, specifically argon, krypton, and a mixture of these gases with air was conducted, as well. The outcomes indicate that both the channel width and vent height do not have a significant impact on the system's performance. However, the width of the air gap has a modest effect on system performance, and the best performance was observed with a smaller gap width, specifically 2 cm. The most significant impact on room temperature is observed when the storage wall thickness is varied. In the case of wall thickness of 15 cm, there is a notably higher fluctuation in room temperature between the maximum and minimum values, reaching approximately 16°C. For a wall thickness of 35 cm, however, this fluctuation is significantly reduced to about 3°C. The system efficiency as determined after 24 h of operation period improved significantly when the air was replaced by an inert gases or a mixture of gases in the air gap. Compared to air, the increase in efficiency is about 14.8% for argon, 17.7% for krypton, and 20.6% for the mixture of gases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the impact of Trombe wall parameters on thermal performance and room temperature in the Iraqi climate

Ali,

Mawlood,

Jalal

2024

Heat Trans

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“…Alotaibi, Badr Saad, et al [16] conducted a study focused on high-rise residential buildings, examining embodied carbon emissions and decarbonization strategies. Their research introduced and evaluated a LCA method covering construction, operation, and demolition phases.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life-Cycle Assessment of an Office Building: Influence of the Structural Design on the Embodied Carbon Emissions

de Paula Filho,

D’Antimo,

Charlier

et al. 2023

Modelling

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In 2020, 37% of global CO2eq. emissions were attributed to the construction sector. The major effort to reduce this share of emissions has been focused on reducing the operational carbon of buildings. Recently, awareness has also been raised on the role of embodied carbon: emissions from materials and construction processes must be urgently addressed to ensure sustainable buildings. To assess the embodied carbon of a building, a life-cycle assessment (LCA) can be performed; this is a science-based and standardized methodology for quantifying the environmental impacts of a building during its life. This paper presents the comparative results of a “cradle-to-cradle” building LCA of an office building located in Luxembourg with 50 years of service life. Three equivalent structural systems are compared: a steel–concrete composite frame, a prefabricated reinforced concrete frame, and a timber frame. A life-cycle inventory (LCI) was performed using environmental product declarations (EPDs) according to EN 15804. For the considered office building, the steel–concrete composite solution outperforms the prefabricated concrete frame in terms of global warming potential (GWP). Additionally, it provides a lower GWP than the timber-frame solution when a landfill end-of-life (EOL) scenario for wood is considered. Finally, the steel–concrete composite and timber solutions show equivalent GWPs when the wood EOL is assumed to be 100% incinerated with energy recovery.

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“…Due to the fact that in energy-efficient buildings, embodied carbon can contribute up to 80% of lifetime GHG emissions [8], several studies [9,10] including by Liang et al (2019) have suggested focusing more on examining the ratio between embodied and operational carbon to fully explore the decarbonisation potential of an entire building's life cycle [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimizing Ventilation Systems for Sustainable Office Buildings: Long-Term Monitoring and Environmental Impact Analysis

Motuzienė,

Lapinskienė,

Rynkun

2024

Sustainability

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One of the key elements in meeting decarbonisation targets is improving energy efficiency in the building sector. Although much is being done at the policy level, evidence from practice shows that buildings designed and constructed for energy efficiency often do not meet the efficiency targets. This matter has particular relevance when it comes to non-residential buildings, such as offices. A common problem with existing office buildings is the inefficient management of their HVAC systems, which leads to a waste of energy. The goal of this study is to demonstrate, based on the monitoring of four relatively new offices, the extent to which mechanical ventilation leads to energy performance gaps in office buildings and to estimate the resulting environmental impact over the life cycle of the building. The monitored parameters were the occupancy and indoor environment, focusing mainly on the relationship between the actual occupancy and the CO2 concentration as a parameter representing the performance of the ventilation system. The monitoring results showed that most of the time, the buildings were over-ventilated, with the ventilation rates failing to match the actual demand, resulting in wasted energy. The actual occupancy of the monitored buildings was much lower than their design value. In two buildings, it never reached 50% of the design value. The simulation showed that simply by applying ventilation rate reduction based on a more realistic occupancy schedule, the primary energy demand decreased by 30%. Thus, the building’s annual CO2 emissions could be reduced by up to 12.5%. These findings help to fill in the knowledge gap as to why the building sector is struggling to decarbonise. The results of this work are of great practical value in showing investors, designers and managers the importance of a properly automated and managed building. The practical value of the results was enhanced by the fact that the timeline of the data covered by the analysis began before and ended after the COVID-19 pandemic, making it possible to assess the fine aspects of managing systems in light of the new realities of a changing work culture and office occupancy.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Embodied Carbon and Strategies for Decarbonization of a High-Rise Residential Building

Cited by 15 publications

References 66 publications

Investigating the impact of Trombe wall parameters on thermal performance and room temperature in the Iraqi climate

Investigating the impact of Trombe wall parameters on thermal performance and room temperature in the Iraqi climate

Life-Cycle Assessment of an Office Building: Influence of the Structural Design on the Embodied Carbon Emissions

Optimizing Ventilation Systems for Sustainable Office Buildings: Long-Term Monitoring and Environmental Impact Analysis

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