The Concept of Embodied Carbon

A Life-Cycle Approach

Technology Racing Ahead

Machines have replaced manual labor

200 years of carbon emissions

CO2 – Where does it come from anyway?

Lifecycle Embodied Carbon

Embodied Carbon

Embodied vs. Operational

• Embodied Carbon– Life Cycle Assessment– Construction Waste Management– End of Life Assessment– Materials Reuse– Recycled Content– Local Content

• Operational Carbon– Transportation to/from site– Energy Performance– Energy Metering– Commissioning– Renewable Energy, Green Power and Carbon Offsets

OFFICEWAREHOUSE

Life cycle carbon – Not one size fits all

75% operation75% manufacture

Life cycle carbon- improving operational energy performance

RICS Standard Methodology – UK to Int’l

Embodied carbon is about material use: Average % of materials in different building types (AUT case studies)

11

Source: Nick Deeks (2011) «Understanding the measurement of Carbon» at RICS Oceania Annual Sustainability Seminar 2011

Concrete and Steel represent major share of materials used in all building types = Carbon Hotspots

Product Construction Use End of life

Uncertainty

What is the exact

specification of the building

elements that will be

installed?

How much energy will be

used when transporting

and assembling the building materials?

How often will individual

elements be replaced?

Will the building be refurbished?

What will happen with the

building in 60 years?

Focus on what we know

Life cycle stages of a building based on BS EN 15978:2011 R

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END OF LIFEstage

BUILDING LIFE CYCLEstages

BEYOND BUILDING LIFE CYCLE stages

Benefits and loads beyond the system

boundary

Operational energy use

Operational water use

PRODUCTstage

CONSTRUCTION PROCESS

stage

USEstage

SCOPE OF THE RICS

PAPER

Concept design - embodied carbon benchmarks

Detailed design - embodied carbon calculation methodology

Analysing the results

Motivation To Measure? Call to Action?

Rating Systems Surveyed

• New Building Rating Systems (Office)– LEED for New Construction v4 (4th reading)– BREEAM Europe Commercial 2009– DGNB New Office and Administrative Buildings– Green Star Office Rating v3

The Importance of Carbon in Rating Systems

LEED

BREEAM

DGNB

Green Star

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

54%

47%

35%

48%

Embodied Carbon as a proportion of Total Carbon

LEED

BREEAM

DGNB

Green Star

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

15%

34%

78%

19%

Best Practice – DGNB Ecological Footprint

The ecological footprint of the building is calculated over the life cycle of 50 years. Within the life cycle, all stages are taken into account: Product stage, construction stage, in-use stage and operation of the building as well as end of life stages

Best Practice – BREEAM Green Guide

Best Practice – Green Star Individual Materials

• Mat 6/7 Aim – To encourage and recognize the reduction of embodied energy and resource depletion occurring through the use of concrete/virgin steel

• Mat 9 Aim – To encourage and recognize designs that minimize the embodied energy and resources associated with demolition.

• Mat 10 Aim- To encourage and recognize designs that produce a net reduction in the total amount of material used.

Best Practice – LEED Waste Diversion

• Construction and Demolition Waste Management– Divert at least 75% of the total construction and demolition

material; diverted materials must include at least 4 material streams; OR

– Do not generate more than 12,2 kg of waste per square meter of the building’s floor area.

We will not reduce energy use in construction!

Two solutions to the problem

We can (probably) tough it out

HumansHomo Genus

But maybe not…

The Apollo Missions – 11 years, 17 flights

• Apollo Guidance Computer– .00004 GHz clock speed– 4 KB RAM

• 5x IBM 365/75– .01 GHz clock speed– 8 MB RAM

• Apple iPhone 5– 1.3 GHz clock speed– 1 GB RAM

The Apollo Missions – 11 years, 17 flights

• iPhone is 32,500 times faster and has 250,000 times more memory than the Apollo guidance computer

• iPhone is 26 times faster and has 25 times more memory than all 5 IBM 360/75 computers combined

When will we spend 170 billion

USD again?

Do we need 170 billion USD to change this graph?

Commercial solar cell efficiency today 14-19%

We’ll need to store energy

Thank you for your attention

Michael P. Smithing, FRICS

LEED AP ID+C, BREEAM Assessor, BREEAM In-Use Auditor

Director | Green Building Advisory, Eastern EuropeColliers International

(+3630) 9214-219