Low energy buildings and embodied energy in a sustainability perspective: new knowledge and tools for consultants and clients
Materials’ embodied energy now has the same order of magnitude as operational energy for low-energy buildings. The project creates user-friendly tools to assess embodied energy, so consultants and clients can make energy-conscious decisions early in the design process, and reduce both embodied and operational energy in a sustainability perspective.
Extensive reductions in buildings’ operational energy are achieved by increasing material consumption. Materials’ embodied energy (primary energy consumption from extraction, production, etc.) now has the same order of magnitude as operational energy. Sustainability assessments assess embodied energy after completing the design, and require extensive amounts of data that are not known early in procurement. There is a clear need for user-friendly tools to assess embodied energy in the early design phase.
The project targets consultants and clients, with multi-disciplinary workshops being used to disseminate the results. The project has six interconnected activities:
Knowledge: We agree methodological issues as the basis for the project.
Materials: We examine traditional/alternative construction materials for refurbishment and new build, and document their production, use and recycling.
Construction Components: We put materials together to make construction components, and document embodied energy and how to reduce it.
Buildings: We put construction components together to make buildings, and document design strategies to reduce embodied and operational energy.
Design Guide & App: We publish a design guide that gives perspectives on embodied energy, and an app that calculates it in an easily accessible way.
Masterclasses: We run five workshops for project groups early in the design of low-energy buildings.
The embodied environmental impacts from materials now have the same order of magnitude as operational impacts, primarily due to recent decade’s reduction of operational energy usage in new buildings. The project has aimed at developing approaches and tools for assessingand reducing embodied impact already in early design stages, based on the LCA method. By doing so, low environmental impact building can be achieved by integrating LCA in decisions early in the design process, when the potential for optimizing design is greatest. Based on a triple approach, the project has generated a new environmental design and assessment tool, a further development of LCAbyg, an LCA designguide and has achieved a vast exchange of knowledge and learning within the building industry. The new LCAbyg 4.0 beta features a simplified user interface with a building-like structure, integration into the real life workflow of architects and engineers, a vast catalogue of construction details and aiding functions to establish the Bill of Materials – being one of the most time-consuming operations in LCA, especially in programming and sketch stages. The project has enjoyed around 260 participants across 12 activities, helping LCA newcomers on the way to considering environmental assessments in their professional practice and, not least providing the researchers with valuable feedback for tailoring the tool and designguide for best user-value and productivity. The new approach is expected to lower the threshold for the building industry to apply and demand LCA in order to reduce in the environmental impact of the building sector.
Key figures
Category
Participants
| Partner | Subsidy | Auto financing |
|---|---|---|
| Akademisk Arkitektforening | ||
| Konstruktørforeningen | ||
| Bygherreforeningen | ||
| IDA Ingeniørforeningen |
