bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparative LCA of a concrete and steel apartment building and a cross laminated timber apartment building
Authors: Eliassen A R , Faanes S , Bohne R A 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
In this paper an LCA is carried out on a concrete and steel apartment building and a cross laminated timber apartment building to compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the two buildings. The buildings are built by Veidekke Entreprenør AS and they are almost identical except for the structural system and the number of floors. They are connected by an underground car park of reinforced concrete. The product stage (A1-A3), transport to the building site (A4) and operational energy use (B6) is examined. Results show that the cross laminated timber building has 25% lower GHG emission compared to the concrete and steel building when looking at the production stage, and 13% lower emissions when looking at all stages. The results also show that the material that contributes to the most GHG emissions is reinforced concrete, and that the underground car park has a high GHG emission because it consists of a lot of concrete. What is new in this paper is that there are two real buildings close together that can be compared to find out which has the lowest environmental impact. The paper is valuable for people designing environmentally friendly buildings with a low carbon footprint.
Life-Cycle Assessment as a decision-support tool for early phases of urban planning: evaluating applicability through a comparative approach
Authors: Slavkovic K , Nault E , Jusselme T , Andersen M 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
While ambitious environmental objectives are being set for new constructions in Switzerland, the assessment of urban-scale projects and comparison of their performance to national targets are made possible by a growing number of life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools. However, previous research emphasizes the lack of existing tools to support the decision-making process at the early design stage, characterized by a low level of project details. This paper presents a comparison between three LCA tools. The first, stemming from a research and development project (SETUP), is an exploration tool relying on a database of urban-level scenarios and their environmental performance, able to convert district targets (e.g. 2000-Watt society objectives) into specific sub-targets at the building or component levels. The other two are online LCA tools currently available to practitioners (Sméo and Calculation tool for 2000-Watt-society-sites RH II ), that allow assessing the project and verifying its compliance with a given target. Each tool was applied to a low-carbon case study, the blueFactory district in Fribourg (Switzerland), in two hypothetical contexts corresponding to the schematic and detailed project development phases, characterized by different levels of details. When used for the assessment of a project at a more advanced development stage with a high resolution of detail, findings indicate that Smeo and RH II provide similar environmental performance results. However, in early planning stages, SETUP shows better abilities to support decision-making by providing ranges of results and highlighting uncertainties and the influence of design parameters that have not yet been fixed.
Passive house-concept apartments: sustainability evaluation in a case study of Stockholm, Sweden
Authors: Khatibi M 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The housing sector accounts for almost one-third of total energy use in Sweden; of this amount, the operation phase of a building is responsible for around 85% of its total energy use. The Swedish government aims to reduce the energy consumption in buildings by 50 % by the year 2050. One way to achieve this goal is the construction of the low-energy buildings. The purpose of the study has been to analyse the Blå Jungfrun passive house-concept, tenant occupied apartments in Stockholm, Sweden, through a blend of qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The Swedish energy-efficient buildings are considered as a platform for recommendations for improving the knowledge and practice of low-energy buildings grounded in sustainability science as the theoretical framework. The study has investigated the roles of the responsible architects and design features of the Blå Jungfrun. The economic viability of the apartments is calculated by the economic evaluation software OekoRat for a life span of 50 years. The annual energy requirements of the studied apartments are analysed in regard to their post-occupancy evaluations. The social inclusion of the Blå Jungfrun tenants is investigated considering the issue of their participation in planning stages of the apartments. The empirical findings of the study shows the inevitable correlations between the environmental, economic, and social dimensions of the passive house. The findings suggested that in order to achieve a successful sustainable system of the sustainable housing, a holistic approach in the low-energy buildings is necessary.
Assessment System for Sustainable Buildings of the German Government (BNB): Calculation tool for the ventilation rate and the resulting carbon dioxide concentration in the ambient air
Authors: Schütz H , Böttcher O 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
An important criterion for Assessment of the sustainability of buildings owned and occupied by the Federal Government is the indoor air quality. The stated aim is to avoid pollutants from construction products and unacceptable carbon dioxide concentrations. Regarding the limitation of the carbon dioxide concentration especially in rooms with high occupancy the challenge is to find a suitable ventilation concept. That concerns natural ventilation as well as mechanical ventilation or the combination of both.
Although there are normative rules for the required air change it is hardly verifiable during building planning whether the proportion of natural ventilation is sufficient in practice. Various evaluation reports in the past have shown that natural ventilation comparability mostly did not work, especially in rooms with high occupancy. In addition, it was also shown that comparability of the test results was usually not given and therefore no conclusions could be drawn on functioning ventilation concepts.
To be able to determine and evaluate the air exchange (in case of natural ventilation) and the resulting development of the carbon dioxide concentration in a room, the development of a calculation tool is part of a recent research project. The tool is used to calculate the outdoor air volume flow with natural ventilation depending on multiple parameters (as examples: wind, temperature, window size, window opening). In the same step CO2 concentration for a certain number of CO2 sources in the room will be determined automatically. Thereby the tool will be very helpful in an early stage of planning to find a proper ventilation concept. In addition to its use as a planning aid, the tool offers two different applications for assessing carbon dioxide concentration in a room: The calculation under specified conditions provides the opportunity to classify the expected carbon dioxide emissions as part of the assessment of sustainable buildings. The tool is also suitable for checking the air exchange under extreme climatic or other individually selectable conditions. At the end the calculation results of each individual constellation are shown in graphical diagrams.
New Portfolio-Rating-System based on LEVEL(S)
Authors: Bernegger H J 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
In Switzerland, there are currently no instruments for the holistic and easily applicable assessment of the sustainability of existing buildings, which can also be applied to larger real estate portfolios and which are structurally based on Swiss or European sustainability standards. The instrument, developed as part of a ZHAW R&D project for the City of Zurich, Public Real Estate Management, is based on the already existing LEVEL(S) criteria structure. As distinguished from LEVEL(S), it can be applied to all types of buildings, including mixed buildings, and also scalable to larger portfolios of cities, banks, insurances or real estate investment funds.
LEVEL(S) is a voluntary reporting framework to improve the sustainability of buildings. Using existing standards, LEVEL(S) provides a common EU approach to the assessment of environmental performance in the built environment. In the current Version LEVEL(S) is suitable for new office and residential buildings and existing buildings at the time of a major refurbishment.
The paper shows, how the rating structures of Agenda2030/SDG’s/GAPFRAME, ESCI City Rating System, DGNB and LEVEL(S) can be combined into a holistic evaluation system. If required, the developed portfolio analysis instrument can be coupled - with a more detailed building analysis as an intermediate step - directly with a DGNB renovation certification. It will show how sustaining property owners can be supported in this holistic way. Finally, the first findings from the practical application are explained. It will be shown how it is possible to support sustainably acting portfolio holders in this holistic way.
Sustainability assessment of a Flemish office building with Level(s): a Level 1 assessment
Authors: Ramon D , Pironnet C , Allacker K 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Recently, Level(s) has been developed by the European Commission as a common EU framework to assess sustainability of buildings with the intention to provide a consistent and comparable framework across national boundaries. It aims at providing a general language for sustainability for buildings and to promote life cycle thinking. This paper describes the application and results of a Level 1 assessment for the design stage of a Flemish office building. Level 1 is a common performance assessment which aims to be used amongst others by building professionals. Common standards and simplified methods are used for the indicators. The paper focusses on the experiences of testing the method by evaluating the user-friendliness of the assessment method for architects considering the information and calculations needed. The added value of applying the methodology in the design stage is furthermore discussed. Based on the test phase, further improvement is recommended by aligning current national tools for data gathering and by providing default values. A Level 1 assessment allows to gain insights in various performances of a building but does not aim to evaluate the “sustainability” level. A level 2 assessment is probably more useful for practitioners to make well-founded choices between different design options.
BIM based iterative simulation - efficient building design: a case study
Authors: Tallberg M , Bohne R 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The aim of this case study was to evaluate the energy performance of utilizing different external materials reaching sustainable targets. Buildings are responsible for 40 percent of energy consumption and energy performance of buildings is a key element to achieving the European Unions goals. The EU has pledged to cut its consumption by 20 percent by 2020.
The main objective of this research was to explore the suitability of BIM for sustainabil-ity analysis at the conceptual design process. The procedure included analysis and discussion of the results for the lowest energy performance of materials. It was shown that changing the building envelope had a signi cant e ect on the annual energy performance of the case building. The limitations of the study was the limitations in the software. For further research, the paper nds it expedient to perform a even more detailed simuation analysis on the building design with other energy supply systems.
The value of the paper is to highlight the utilization of BIM to evaluate the material solutions to reach sustainable construction in the future, focusing on the need for lowering the energy consumption of tomorrows buildings.
Modelling options for module C and D: Experiences from 50 EPD for wood-based products in Norway
Authors: Tellnes L G F , Rønning A R 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Introducing the EN 15804 standard as a core PCR for building products included several specifications for LCA end-of-life and benefits beyond the life cycle. There are however several issues that the LCA practitioner need to interpret during the modelling and generic data needs to be adjusted for being representative and in accordance to EN 15804.The modelling of module C and D has been developed in three different stages during making 50 EPDs over several years. First the model was mainly based on generic data from ELCD database. The second was a statistics-based mix of different treatment options, where the substation of other energy sources in module D was a representative mix of district heating mix, electricity, coal in cement production, wood chips in wood industry and ELCD for exported waste. The third represented a 100 % scenario for energy recovery in municipal waste incineration and substituting statistical mix of electricity and district heating. The objective of the study is to present the experiences from developing and implementing the module C and D in the 50 EPD that where verified at EPD-Norway and discuss in relation to requirements in standards and usability in a building context.
A typology of digital building technologies: Implications for policy and industry
Authors: Meuer J , Toetzke M , Nakhle C , Windeck S 
Published: September 2019

AbstractDigitalization and digital technologies are buzzwords in today’s building industry. Because of their promising opportunities to improve (among others) the sustainability footprint of the built environment, they have emerged as an important topic for policymakers, managers, and researchers. Yet, the debate is dominated by references to Building Information Modelling (BIM) and to the success of digital businesses in other industries; it thereby fails to consider other promising digital building technologies and ignores that—in the building industry—many digital technologies require alignment with buildings’ physical components. For these reasons, it is unclear how the implications of digital transformation of the building industry for policy and business. In this paper, we develop a typology of digital building technologies, and categorize and assess 29 important building technologies. The substantive differences among different types of building technologies provide valuable insights into how digital building technologies affect the functioning, structure, and competition in the building industry and where digital building technologies offer opportunities to remedy the industry’s sustainability footprint. Based on our findings, we offer recommendations to policy makers, companies, and researchers interested in digital building technologies.
Consequential LCA of demountable and reusable internal wall assemblies: a case study in a Belgian context
Authors: Buyle M , Galle W , Debacker W , Audenaert A 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The transition from a linear to a circular economy is essential to reduce the environmental burden of our society. A key issue is to prevent a shift of the environmental burdens and take the consequences of a decision into account, for example based on a consequential life cycle assessment (LCA). However, limited practical guidance is available on how to implement consequential LCA in the context of the construction sector. Therefore, the aim of this study is twofold. First, to quantify the potential environmental and burdens of introducing circular design alternatives for internal wall assemblies to the Belgian market. Second, to review the methodological implications on the results of a consequential LCA with a particular focus on consistently identifying marginal suppliers and substitution routes, acknowledging the time dependence and closed-loop nature of the design alternatives.
In total seven wall assemblies are assessed over a period of 60 years, with a refurbishment every 15 year.
The results show that a low life cycle impact can be achieved for assemblies that are designed to be used again and have a higher initial impact, such as a plywood boarding connected reversibly to a demountable metal frame substructure, as well as for assemblies with no possibilities for direct reuse that have a low initial impact, such as a drywall system with a wooden substructure. Further, regarding the methodological scenarios on marginal supplier identification, the range of possible outcomes is however much larger for the demountable wall assemblies than for the conventional ones.
Scenario uncertainties assessment within whole building LCA
Authors: Guimarães G D , Saade M R M , Zara O O C , Silva V G 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Uncertainties evaluation is increasingly gaining traction within life cycle assessment (LCA), due to its key role as environmental decision support tool. When applied at whole-building scale, the large variety of materials, subjective choices and long lifespans introduce parameter, scenario and model uncertainties throughout the life cycle. Since normative choices are unavoidable within whole-building LCA (wbLCA), in this article we carried out a so-called ‘scenario’ uncertainty assessment for one illustrative case study. First, three uncertainty sources were selected, to include the two drivers most frequently cited in literature (reference service life and end of life management alternatives) and material wastage, a relevant issue to factor in variable construction optimization levels in contexts like Brazil. Cumulative energy demand (CED) and CML 2001 v.2.05 methods were used for calculating deterministic values of non-renewable embodied energy and global warming potential in SimaPro 7.3 The uncertainty assessment combined scenario analysis, stochastic modelling (Monte Carlo simulation of triangular probability distributions for the uncertainty drivers investigated) and global sensitivity analysis (GSA). The GSA confirmed the dominant contribution of the operational phase - strongly influenced by components replacement rate - to of life cycle non-renewable embodied energy and global warming potential result variance, whilst construction and end of life stages showed no correlation with life cycle results. Findings from this research also highlight the strategic importance of gathering service life information adherent to the assessed context. Building components replacement rates induced by the Brazilian standard are overestimated relatively to international figures used in LCAs worldwide.
Integrating climate change in life cycle assessment of buildings: literature review
Authors: Ramon D , Allacker K 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
The operational energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings are typically influenced by changes during the building service life such as climate change, technological evolution and energy mix evolution. Only few LCA studies consider these temporal variations. This paper investigates how climate change is currently considered in LCA studies. Three aspects related to the influence of climate change on the life cycle impact of buildings are focused on: (1) changes in operational energy use (heating and cooling) due to changes in the climatic context of the building, (2) changes in operational energy use due to technological evolution or climate regulations and (3) changes in energy mix due to climate regulations. All three influence the energy use and related environmental impact but the extent of the effect depends on the considered region, time step and environmental indicators. It is hence recommended to choose an appropriate time period when considering climate change in LCA and consider variations within a time period via dynamic building simulations or to include a static correction. A holistic set of impact categories should be focussed on to avoid burden shifting and the most influencing parameters should be checked via a sensitivity analysis.
Visualisation of KPIs in zero emission neighbourhoods for improved stakeholder participation using Virtual Reality
Authors: Wiberg A H , Løvhaug S , Mathisen M , Tschoerner B , Resch E , Erdt M , Prasolova-Førland E 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
This paper addresses the role of virtual reality in addressing the specific challenge of the increasing complexity and decreasing usability when dealing with the level of detail required to model a zero emission neighbourhood (ZEN).[1] In such neighbourhoods, there is a need to handle both ‘top down’ neighbourhood level data with ‘bottom up’ building and material level data. This can quickly become overwhelming particularly when dealing with non expert users such as planners, architects, researchers and citizens who play a key part in the design process of future ZENs. Visualisation is an invaluable means to communicate complex data in an interactive way that makes it easier for diverse stakeholders to engage in decision making early and throughout the design process. The main purpose of this work has been to make ZEN key performance indicators (KPIs) more easily comprehensible to a diverse set of stakeholders who need to be involved in the early design phase. The paper investigates how existing extended reality (XR) technologies, such as virtual reality, can be integrated with an existing dynamic LCA method in order to provide visualise feedback on KPIs in early phase design of sustainable neighbourhoods. This existing method provides a dynamic link between the REVIT Bim and the ZEB Tool using a Dynamo plugin.[2] The results presented in this paper demonstrate how virtual reality can help to improve stakeholder participation in the early design phase and more easily integrate science-based knowledge on GHG emissions and other KPIs into the further development of the user-centered architectural and urban ZEN toolbox for the design and planning, operation and monitoring of ZENs. [3]
A systematic review of the international assessment systems for urban sustainability
Authors: Pedro J , Reis A , Duarte Pinheiro M , Silva C 
Published: September 2019

Abstract
Planning and managing the rapidly growing cities in a manner that delivers a balanced solution for their environmental, social and economic long-term development constitutes one of the grand challenges of societies. In the urban planning field, several sustainability assessment systems emerged to guide the planning process towards these goals. After two decades of existence, there is a need to further analyze the lessons learned from the application of these systems and discuss the pathways towards more sustainable societies. This paper provides a literature review of the most widely used urban sustainability assessment systems: BREEAM Communities, LEED Neighborhoods, CASBEE Urban Development, Green Star Communities, and DGNB Urban Districts. Here, we analyzed 124 publications on the topic published between 2015-2018, using the selected assessment systems as keywords. This study revealed that there is a need for context customization of global targets into local actionable measures; involvement of regulatory bodies to ensure the successful application of such systems; and, consideration of socioeconomic factors as the assessment is still very focused on the environmental impact. This study provides insights for practitioners and researchers on the existing systems to assess urban sustainability and pathways for future research.