Global Policy Review on Embodied Flows: Recommendations for Australian Construction Sector

There has been a call for the construction industry to become more energy efficient in its planning and activities, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help combat climate change. The Australian Building Codes Board has implemented ‘Energy Efficiency’ standards through the National Construction Codes to direct the industry towards net zero emissions goals. However, the Board has maintained a focus on operational flows considerations despite this only being a part of the total expenditure in a building lifecycle. Embodied flows, the energy output, and emissions from harvesting, manufacturing, transporting, and manufacturing materials for a building have not been included as a part of the current standards despite their growing share in the outputs of construction. A qualitative document analysis using data from academic articles and industry publications was performed to identify the context in embodied policy development. Findings reveal an abundance of different legislations and initiatives globally, recommending techniques that may effectively achieve embodied flow reductions. The results highlighted that Australia needs to capitalize on the potential reductions in overall energy and emissions from construction. Other regions have provided a strategic and legislative basis for the industry to emulate

A detailed perspective of water resource management in a dry and water scarce country: the case in Kuwait

Kuwait is an arid country with one of the world’s highest consumption rates per capita. It suffers from severe water scarcity. Annual national expenditure on direct water supply and distribution in Kuwait is substantial, which is a burden on the country’s economy. The nation’s dependency on imported food due to water scarcity is also considered a primary political and security concern. These conditions call for much more efficient use and management of water in Kuwait. This study aims to undertake an extensive analysis of the country’s water resources and review current management strategies for better planning and management. The main sources of freshwater in Kuwait are seawater desalination, brackish groundwater, and recycling wastewater. Seawater desalination is the primary source that produces 61% of freshwater for drinking, agriculture, and other water-dependent industries. Other water management measures related to rainfall drainage systems and water supply networks are also employed to better utilize scarce water. Multiple government organizations that enforce several legal frameworks oversee long-term and acute water-related issues. Regional neighbors also face similar climatic conditions to Kuwait and suffer from water scarcity and associated food shortages. Water conservation and cultivating water-efficient crops have been identified as effective measures to overcome this issue. However, due to the small size and dry arid climate in Kuwait, its future is challenging. It must invest in modern, innovative, and effective solutions to preserve the sustainability of its freshwater resources

Assessment of life cycle embodied energy and material cost in Australian shopping centres: Implications for material selection

© 2020 Kumudu Kaushalya WeththasingheShopping centres are the fastest-growing retail space in Australia driven principally by population growth and urban sprawl. A shopping centre undergoes frequent renovations and refurbishments during its life cycle for several reasons. These can include the need to increase foot traffic, improve sales and fixed term leasing periods of retail spaces. The refurbishment frequency of retail shops in shopping centres is exceptional compared to other commercial property assets, with refurbishments every 2 to 10 years. Consequently, building materials in shopping centres experience premature replacements due to economic, functional and social obsolescence. This overexploitation of resources ultimately increases the embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions in shopping centres. Yet despite this, there is a lack of knowledge on embodied environmental impact of shopping centres in Australia, which constitutes a significant obstacle in achieving improved sustainability. This thesis presents assessments of embodied energy and GHG emissions of shopping centres by developing an object-oriented model with three case study applications. Subregional shopping centres were selected as cases because they represent the largest share of shopping centre floor space (planned and existing) in Australia. The embodied environmental effects of a building are predominantly governed by the materials and assemblies employed in its structure, envelope, and finishes. To minimise embodied effects, it is essential to select building materials with better environmental performances, which might increase life cycle cost. Hence, the object-oriented model prioritises both embodied energy and material cost to identify viable material and assembly solutions. The model assessed and compared 8,820 assembly combinations across 16 different shop types in selected shopping centres. Results demonstrate that the estimated life cycle embodied energy and material cost of a typical single-storey subregional shopping centre are estimated to be around 485 TJ and AU$ 38 million as of 2019, respectively. Recurrent embodied energy is 45% of the total embodied energy, leading to an annual value of 193.15 MJ/m2, which is significantly higher in comparison to other building assets. The largest contributing shop type for life cycle embodied energy and material cost is the centre structure. Results reveal that informed use of current building materials and assemblies (i.e. engineered timber structures, fly ash cement in concrete, cork and other timber based products) significantly reduce embodied energy and emissions (up to 43%) and deliver material cost savings (up to 17%) in comparison to the business as usual scenario. The introduction of a carbon tax is also identified as an effective mechanism to encourage the selection of materials yielding a reduction of embodied energy and GHG emissions. The research outcomes demonstrate that the premature replacements of building materials and assemblies in shopping centres have a significant effect on their embodied energy demand and this varies significantly by shop types. The contributions of this study will allow building designers and other project participants to evaluate material selection decisions while enabling policy makers to develop regulations and guidelines that compel or encourage the selection of materials and assemblies with improved environmental performances. This research contributes to mitigating adverse environmental effects of the built environment

Improving material selection in shopping centres through a parametric life cycle embodied flow and material cost analysis model

Shopping centres are significant built assets and part of the urban fabric in most developed economies. Yet very few studies have conducted a life cycle assessment of shopping centres, despite them using significant amounts of energy and resources throughout their life cycle. This paper presents a parametric model that quantifies the life cycle embodied flow (LCEF) and material cost (LCMC) of Australian shopping centres to inform material selection. Different combinations of building materials and assemblies are identified with minimum LCEF and LCMC for 13 different shop categories typical in shopping centres. The parametric model is used to simulate a case study centre which tests and analyses over 8820 scenarios and delivers benchmark values for the LCEF and LCMC of shopping centres. It shows that a typical centre using concrete and steel, average embodied flow intensities are 14.2 GJ/m2 and 830 kgCO2e/m2. It further demonstrates recurrent embodied flow, which is currently disregarded, is significant and represents up to 56% of the LCEF of a shopping centre over a period of 50 years. Results show that specific assembly combinations could achieve up to 32% LCEF reductions while saving up to 17% on material costs. Foundations and roof structure are identified as the most crucial of building elements for reducing embodied flow in the centre structure. This paper contributes to the embodied environmental impact assessment efforts and the energy-cost nexus by facilitating the appraisal and demonstrating broader societal impacts in making the built environment more economically and environmentally sustainable

Carbon footprint of wood and plastic as packaging materials – An Australian case of pallets

Pallets play a critical role in supply chains across a variety of industries in the world, since they are used for holding items during transportation and in transit. Pallets can be constructed using different materials and assembled in various designs to satisfy their functional requirements. Currently, material selection is predominantly based on material performance and cost analysis. Nonetheless, it is important to evaluate the suitability of the material in terms of an environmental footprint to reduce emissions generation. This study performed an environmental footprint assessment for the two most common packaging materials - wood and plastic, complying with GHG Protocol standards, in the Australian context. A quantitative analysis was carried out based on empirical data obtained from an Australian wooden pallet manufacturer (WPM) and published data for plastic pallets. Results demonstrated the carbon footprint of the plastic pallets (216 kgCO2-e) to complete 100 trips is 1.5 times higher than the wooden pallets (144 kgCO2-e), from a cradle-to-grave perspective. Uncertainty and sensitivity analysis was also conducted to identify sensitive variables and assess the accuracy of the results. Findings of this study can assist industry practitioners, academia, and policy enablers in selecting suitable materials to achieve emissions reduction