Journal
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
Volume 61, Issue -, Pages 22-34Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2012.01.001
Keywords
Material Use; Building elements; Carbon dioxide emissions
Categories
Funding
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University [G-U 143]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study applied the Monte Carlo method to generate probabilistic distributions for describing the CO2 footprint of the superstructure of a high-rise concrete office building. The distribution profile was constructed with the material use data collected from thirteen high-rise office concrete buildings in Hong Kong. Our results indicate that the superstructure of an office building (i.e. it does not embrace foundation or basement), on average, had a footprint of 215.1 kg CO2/m(2). External walls and upper floor construction had the highest CO2 footprint, followed by suspended ceilings and finishes. These three elements altogether accounted for an average of 84.2% of the CO2 footprint associated with the superstructure. Furthermore, this study also evaluated the emissions reduction impacts of five different material use options over a 60-year lifespan. Among all the studied options, the most effective option is to maintain 15-30% of the existing structural and non-structural building elements as it can reduce the CO2 footprint by 17.3%. Diverting construction wastes to recycling can reduce the CO2 footprint by 5.9%. Reusing resources and importing regional materials can each only reduce the CO2 footprint by 3.2% and 3.1% respectively. In contrast, the CO2 footprint will be increased by 5% if off-site fabricated materials are used in facades, slabs and partition walls. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available