Lifecycle Environmental Performance of Materials Specifications: A BIM Enhanced Comparative Assessment

This study aims to evaluate the extent to which building material specification affects life cycle environmental performance, using a building information modelling (BIM)-enhanced life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. A combination of the BIM-based design and analysis tool Revit Architecture, the energy simulation tool Green Building Studio (GBS) and the LCA tool ATHENA Impact Estimator were used for the assessment. The LCA was carried out on a life case study of a 2100 m2 two-floor primary-school building, as well as a variability analysis, by varying the material specification in terms of whole building materials. The life cycle performance of the buildings was primarily evaluated in terms of its global warming potential (GWP) and health impact.The findings of the study show that irrespective of the materials used, buildings that are based on renewable energy perform better than those based on fossil fuels over their life cycle. In terms of building materials, both environmental and health preference...

[1]  Martin Fischer,et al.  Combining Different Project Modeling Approaches for Effective Support of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering Tasks , 2004 .

[2]  Shabbir H. Gheewala,et al.  Life cycle energy assessment of a typical office building in Thailand , 2009 .

[3]  John Dean,et al.  Integration of 3D Tool with Environmental Impact Assessment (3D EIA) , 2007 .

[4]  Zhigang Shen,et al.  A Building LCA Case Study Using Autodesk Ecotect and BIM Model , 2011 .

[5]  Boris Ceranic,et al.  Sustainable Design Analysis and BIM Integration , 2013 .

[6]  Hau Yan Leung,et al.  Building Information Modelling (BIM): A new paradigm for visual interactive modeling and simulation for construction project , 2008 .

[7]  James Mitchell,et al.  Intelligent Sustainable Design: Integration of Carbon Accounting and Building Information Modeling , 2011 .

[8]  Zhuguo Li.  A new life cycle impact assessment approach for buildings , 2006 .

[9]  Anne Grete Hestnes,et al.  Energy use in the life cycle of conventional and low-energy buildings: A review article , 2007 .

[10]  Peter Wild,et al.  Inadequate documentation in published life cycle energy reports on buildings , 2010 .

[11]  Gregory A. Keoleian,et al.  Life cycle energy and environmental performance of a new university building: modeling challenges and design implications , 2003 .

[12]  Charles M. Eastman,et al.  BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors , 2008 .

[13]  Yasmeen Saadah,et al.  Decreasing CO2 Emissions and Embodied Energy during the Construction Phase Using Sustainable Building Materials , 2010 .

[14]  William E. Franklin,et al.  LCA — How it came about , 1996 .

[15]  Sang-Ho Lee,et al.  Life cycle carbon dioxide assessment tool for buildings in the schematic design phase , 2013 .

[16]  Varun,et al.  Life cycle assessment of buildings: A review , 2011 .

[17]  Bin Song,et al.  LCAs of a polycrystalline photovoltaic module and a wind turbine , 2011 .

[18]  Michael D. Lepech,et al.  Application of life-cycle assessment to early stage building design for reduced embodied environmental impacts , 2013 .

[19]  Varun,et al.  LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems—A review , 2009 .

[20]  Alice Moncaster,et al.  A comparative review of existing data and methodologies for calculating embodied energy and carbon of buildings , 2012 .

[21]  Gillian Frances Menzies,et al.  Life-Cycle Assessment and the Environmental Impact of Buildings: A Review , 2009 .

[22]  Ambrose Dodoo,et al.  Lifecycle primary energy analysis of conventional and passive houses , 2012 .

[23]  Angele Reinders,et al.  A comparative life cycle analysis of low power PV lighting products for rural areas in South East Asia , 2012 .

[24]  Varun,et al.  Life cycle assessment of solar PV based electricity generation systems: A review , 2010 .

[25]  Lei Xu,et al.  The life-cycle assessment of a single-storey retail building in Canada , 2012 .