Uncertainty Analysis of Life Cycle Energy Assessment in Early Stages of Design

Harter, Hannes; Singh, Manav Mahan; Schneider-Marin, Patricia; Lang, Werner; Geyer, Philipp

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109635

Cited by 35 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Our analysis provides guidance toward which parameter's uncertainty to reduce first to get a more precise indication of environmental impact. A previous study [21] showed that this method can also applied to the entire life cycle including operational energy consumption. Future work should add other criteria (such as cost) and take into account the multi-criterial nature of decision processes in building design.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, the reinforcement amount is needed for concrete building parts only and is defined to be the mass (kg) of reinforcing steel per volume (m 3 ) of concrete. As we are analyzing embedded impacts in more detail, the number of parameters is reduced compared to our previous study concerned with LCEA [21]. Also, the reduced number of parameters allows us to regroup them differently providing a more specific analysis.…”

Section: Sampling Process Sensitivity and Contribution Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To reduce this complexity to a manageable level, aggregated data is provided in building LCI/LCIA databases such as the Oekobaudat [26]. This paper explores in detail the analysis of embedded energy and GHG emissions in early design stages in addition to the uncertainty analysis of relevant parameters for both operational and embedded energy published in Harter et al [21]. The related operational energy calculation is described in detail by Singh and Geyer [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertainty Analysis of Embedded Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using BIM in Early Design Stages

et al. 2020

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With current efforts to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of buildings in the operational phase, the share of embedded energy (EE) and embedded GHG emissions is increasing. In early design stages, chances to influence these factors in a positive way are greatest, but very little and vague information about the future building is available. Therefore, this study introduces a building information modeling (BIM)-based method to analyze the contribution of the main functional parts of buildings to find embedded energy demand and GHG emission reduction potentials. At the same time, a sensitivity analysis shows the variance in results due to the uncertainties inherent in early design to avoid misleadingly precise results. The sensitivity analysis provides guidance to the design team as to where to strategically reduce uncertainties in order to increase precision of the overall results. A case study shows that the variability and sensitivity of the results differ between environmental indicators and construction types (wood or concrete). The case study contribution analysis reveals that the building’s structure is the main contributor of roughly half of total GHG emissions if the main structural material is reinforced concrete. Exchanging reinforced concrete for a wood structure reduces total GHG emissions by 25%, with GHG emissions of the structure contributing 33% and windows 30%. Variability can be reduced systematically by first reducing vagueness in geometrical and technical specifications and subsequently in the amount of interior walls. The study shows how a simplified and fast BIM-based calculation provides valuable guidance in early design stages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sampling Process Sensitivity and Contribution Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Uncertainty Analysis of Embedded Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using BIM in Early Design Stages

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“…• studies focusing on the entire building. In these studies, comprehensive LCA databases are used, and the studies focus on the performance of the entire building, mainly through matrices in which the building of quantities is combined with the environmental indicators of individual building materials [90,91] LCA application in the building sector could be employed either for building components and materials, or for the entire building ( Figure 12). Numerous LCA databases (academic, commercial, or public) which are used in the building sector.…”

Section: Environmental Assessment Of Building Products and Buildings:mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• studies focusing on the entire building. In these studies, comprehensive LCA databases are used, and the studies focus on the performance of the entire building, mainly through matrices in which the building of quantities is combined with the environmental indicators of individual building materials [90,91] • the integration of LCA databases into BIM models for the assessment of the entire building at the design stage [68,69,92,93]. This trend is anticipated to prevail in the near future, whereas commercialized tools, such as Tally, have already been launched [94].…”

Section: Environmental Assessment Of Building Products and Buildings:mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Challenges and Advancements in the field of Sustainable Energy Technologies in the Built Environment

et al. 2020

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Inevitably, the 21st century has initiated a series of developments in the construction industry, leading to its digitalization and resulting in a series of innovative approaches and practices. At the same time, the construction industry, being one of the main global environment polluters, should fulfil well-established, as well as novel, sustainability requirements in order to evolve in harmony with the rising concerns on the availability of natural resources. This overview study aims to present the main developments, research, and scientific challenges in the field of sustainable construction, emphasizing the field of energy. The study aims to present a state-of-the-art scientific discussion on the sustainable built environment topic by analyzing cutting edge topics in the fields of building elements and whole building energy assessment, of indoor air quality and low carbon buildings, as well as on sustainable energy systems and smart buildings. The study also presents the state-of-the-art in existing tools which are adopted for the assessment of the sustainable built environment, including the use of digital tools and building information modelling for the energy assessment of the built environment, as well as the application of Life Cycle Assessment on building-related processes. Cross cutting issues related to the analysis of the building sector in the Industry 4.0 era, such as sustainability management topics and environmental geomatics are also discussed. The study concludes in those fields which will be of interest of the scientific community in the following years, towards achieving the goals of the sustainable development of the building sector.

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Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Reijnders¹

2021

Handbook of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

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Uncertainty Analysis of Life Cycle Energy Assessment in Early Stages of Design

Cited by 35 publications

References 43 publications

Uncertainty Analysis of Embedded Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using BIM in Early Design Stages

Uncertainty Analysis of Embedded Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Using BIM in Early Design Stages

Research Challenges and Advancements in the field of Sustainable Energy Technologies in the Built Environment

Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

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