Environmental Impact of Industrial Prefabricated Buildings: Carbon and Energy Footprint Analysis Based on an LCA Approach☆

Abstract The world-wide effort to reduce the environmental impact associated to the industrial sector is quickly producing an increasing feedback on national and international decision makers. In this context, the analysis of life-cycle based assessments on the main impact categories associated to the pre-production, production, assembly, use, and end-of- life phases represents a powerful tool towards a holistic interpretation of the footprint from industrial buildings. The Italian prefabricated building sector, characterized, on average, by local enterprises with regional coverage, has been investigated in order to study the Carbon and Energy Footprints. Data from a large company, running several facilities spread on the national territory, have been collected and analyzed in order to provide a parameterized evaluation of the GHG emission and the energy consumption associated to the single phases of the building life cycle as a function of the sensible design requirements. The quantification of the Carbon and the Energy footprint, associated to the prefabricated industrial building sector, is presented. The assessment procedure is performed through a parametric modeling of the building properties bases on the analysis of different sizes and designs. A detailed discussion of the outputs is presented, including the comparison of the environmental performance depending on different construction requirements

Combined thermal effect of cool roof and cool façade on a prototype building

Abstract Recently, huge efforts were made to develop new passive solutions for optimizing building summer thermal-energy behavior. While cool roofs are well investigated, a lack of knowledge is detected about the benefits deriving from the combination of cool roofs and cool facades. This work aims at determining the thermal performance of innovative cool roofing membrane and cool facade painting when applied on a prototype building, through continuous monitoring. Additionally, sensitivity analysis is performed to investigate the thermal benefits of the coupled solutions. Results showed that the combined solutions generate significant passive cooling in terms of indoor operative temperature reduction

Examining the Transition towards the Supply of Sustainable Apartments in Australia: A Design Perspective

The built environment in Australia accounts for about 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), where only the multi-unit residential buildings account for a quarter of these emissions. Moving towards sustainable constructions and green buildings can help in reducing GHG emissions and their negative effects. In this context, integrating Circular Economy (CE) principles into buildings’ projects can further help in reducing the environmental impact of the building stock. The purpose of this research is to explore the embracing of CE in the apartment industry. Personal experiences and perspectives of 5 stakeholders from Vitoria and NSW involving sustainable new and retrofit apartment buildings are investigated by drawing on the results of the semi-structured interview. Results underlined barriers and opportunities for designing sustainable apartments

Parental squabbles and genome expression: lessons from the polyploids

The merger of evolutionarily diverged genomes to form a new polyploid genetic system can involve extensive remodeling of gene regulation. A recent paper in BMC Biology provides important insights into regulatory events that have affected the evolution of allopolyploid cotton

Hybrid Vehicles as a Transition for Full E-Mobility Achievement in Positive Energy Districts: Comparative Assessment of Real-Driving Emissions

Air pollution is a major concern, particularly in developing countries. Road transport and mobile sources are considered the root causes of air pollutants. With the implementation of zero-carbon and zero-energy concepts at the district scale, cities can make great strides towards sustainable development. Urban planning schemes are moving from mere building solutions to the larger positive energy district (PED) scale. Alongside other technology systems in PEDs, increased uptake of electro-mobility solutions can play an important role in CO2 mitigation at the district level. This paper aims to quantify the exhaust emissions of six conventional and two fully hybrid vehicles using a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) in real driving conditions. The fuel consumption and exhaust pollutants of the conventional and hybrid vehicles were compared in four different urban and highway driving routes during autumn 2019 in Iran. The results showed that hybrid vehicles presented lower fuel consumption and produced relatively lower exhaust emissions. The conventional group’s fuel consumption (CO2 emissions) was 11%, 41% higher than that of the hy-brids. In addition, the hybrid vehicles showed much better fuel economy in urban routes, which is beneficial for PEDs. Micro-trip analysis showed that although conventional vehicles emitted more CO2 at lower speeds, the hybrids showed a lower amount of CO2. Moreover, in conventional vehi-cles, NOx emissions showed an increasing trend with vehicle speed, while no decisive trend was found for NOx emissions versus vehicle speed in hybrid vehicles

Assessing the Impact of Heat Mitigation Measures on Thermal Performance and Energy Demand at the Community Level: A Pathway Toward Designing Net-zero Energy Communities

In the context of escalating global energy demands, urban areas, specifically the building sector, contribute to the largest energy consumption, with urban overheating exacerbating this issue. Utilizing urban modelling for heat-mitigation and reduction of energy demand is crucial steps towards a sustainable built-environment, complementing onsite energy generation in the design and development of Net-zero Energy (NZE) Settlement, especially in the context of Australian weather conditions. Addressing a significant gap in existing literature, this study offers empirical analysis on the climate and energy efficacy of integrated heat mitigation strategies applied in 14 neighbourhood typologies located in Sydney, Australia. Examining the application of cool materials on roads, pavements, and rooftops, alongside urban vegetation enhancement, the analysis demonstrates scenario effectiveness on heat mitigation that leads to reduce ambient temperature and energy demands along with CO2 emissions within the neighbourhoods. Considering building arrangement, built-area ratio, building height, and locations, ENVI-met and CitySim are utilized to assess the heat-mitigation and the energy demand of neighbourhoods, respectively. Results indicate that mitigation measures can lead up to a 2.71 °C reduction in ambient temperature and over 25% reduction in Cooling Degree Hours, with a 34.34% reduction in cooling energy demand and overall energy savings of up to 12.49%. In addition, the annual energy-saving yields a CO2 reduction of approximately 141.12 tonnes, where additional vegetation further amplifies these reductions by enhancing CO2 absorption. This study showcases the pathway towards achieving NZE goals in climates similar to that of Australia, highlighting significant benefits in heat-mitigation, environmental impact, and energy-savings

4E Advancement of Heat Recovery During Hot Seasons for a Building Integrated Photovoltaic Thermal (BIPV/T) System

In conventional building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPV/T) systems, heat is only recovered during cold seasons. However, no recovery takes place in hot seasons. Therefore, this study comes up with an answer to the question “how much improvement in the amount of annual recovered heat (ANRH), average exergy efficiency (AAEE), and CO2 saving (ACDS), as well as payback period (PBP), is achieved when heat recovery is done in hot seasons?”. These are representatives of energy, exergy, environmental and economic (4E) aspects, respectively. The results show a 135.6%, 1.8% and 123.0% enhancement in the ANRH, AAEE and ACDS, respectively, while PBP decreases from 6.10 to 3.94 years

Life Cycle Assessment of Fly Ash and Cenospheres-based Geopolymer Materials

It was widely reported in the early 2000s that geopolymer technology exhibits superior mechanical properties and lower global warming potential (GWP) over the use of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). However, a major limitation observed in the sustainability evaluation is a lack of consideration of environmental impacts from the use of industrial waste. This observation led to the purpose of this study, which is to identify the key factors throughout geopolymer production that contribute to its sustainability performance. In this paper, two geopolymers made of fly ash (G-FA) and cenospheres (G-C) were examined by mechanical testing while their sustainability impacts on a cradle-to-grave approach were investigated. The industrial waste and transport modelling impacts were given special attention in the performed life-cycle assessment. After 28 days of curing, G-FA exhibited 64.56 MPa and 6.03 MPa of compressive strength and flexural strength, respectively. G-C, with ¾ of G-FA bulk density, achieved 19.09 MPa and 3.13 MPa, respectively, with no significant changes observed after 14 days of curing. By upscaling the inventories to 1 m3 of industrial production scale, geopolymers showed a GWP reduction up to 49.7% compared to OPC with natural aggregates and presented benefits on human health damage category by 23.7% (G-FA) to 41.6% (G-C). In conclusion, geopolymer mortars establish compressive strength and flexural strength that are adequate for construction applications and present sustainability benefits in GWP, which suggests them to be potential substitutions for OPC. However, the industrial waste treatment (i.e., preparation of fly ash) will deplete water bodies, and the sodium silicate induces significant environmental burdens during its manufacture, becoming the key factor to enhance the geopolymer’s sustainability