The atmospheric environmental impact of a Korean traditional building's life cycle, along with carbon footprint analysis

In South Korea, a residential building makes a significant contribution of atmospheric environmental impacts during its entire life cycle, which includes a building material production stage, a building construction stage, a building operation stage, a building maintenance stage, a demolition stage, and a recycling and disposal stage, along with the associated transportation activities. Because the Korean traditional building has recently emerged as a popular type of residential building, this study estimates the life cycle atmospheric environmental impact potentials of a Korean traditional building. This case study examines a representative example in Seoul, South Korea. The results shows that, during its entire life, the Korean traditional building contributes 799,603.51 kg of GWP, 4,906.11 kg of RDP, 3,222.76 kg of POCP, 1,367.98 kg of AP, 3, 176.27 kg of EP, and 0.1 kg of ODP, while the building operation and building material production stages contribute the largest atmospheric environmental impact potentials. In addition, the carbon footprint analysis of building materials finds that the concrete is the major source of total CO2 emissions, while the transportation activity is the major source of total CH4 emissions and N2O emissions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.