Digital Tools for Revealing and Reducing Carbon Footprint in Infrastructure, Building, and City Scopes

The climate change issue has been striking and bringing pressure on all countries and industries. The responsibility of the Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Facility Management (AEC/FM) industry is heavy because it accounts for over one-third of global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the development of digital technology brings the opportunity to mitigate environmental issues. Therefore, this study intended to examine the state-of-the-art of digital development and transformation in the AEC/FM industry by collecting and reviewing the developed digital carbon footprint analysis tools in infrastructure, building, and city scopes. Specifically, this study (1) generated a review methodology for carbon footprint analysis results; (2) demonstrated the review results from the infrastructure, building, and city scopes, analysed and compared the results crossing the scopes from four aspects: carbon footprint analysis strategy, standards and protocols, rating systems, and general development level of digital tools; and (3) discussed the potential directions in the industry to address the environmental issues. This study indicated that the digitalisation level regarding carbon-related areas is still at an early stage, and efforts should be taken both academically and practically to drive the digital development confronting the harsh climate change issue

Urban metabolism and emergy of China’s cities

Unprecedented pace of urbanization and industrialization caused a massive increase in China’s urbanmetabolic pressure. The trend presents an urgent challenge for detailing the long-term changes anddisparities in urban metabolic performances in a wide range of cities. Here, we present empirical evidenceof 283 China’s cities from 2000 to 2018 based on emergy analysis indicating that China’s urbanmetabolic performance gradually becomes worse. For example, the environmental sustainability indexdecreased by 81.64% between 2000 and 2018. In addition, emergy-based performances among China’scities show considerable differences. Agricultural cities and light manufacturing cities have bettersustainability; energy production cities face high environmental pressure. Scenarios for 2025 show thattotal emergy use would experience slower growth; and most cities continue their decline in emergymetabolism. To ensure overall progress on urban metabolic performance, heavy manufacturing cities andenergy production cities should give more attention in adjusting emergy structure

Evaluating the impact of highway construction projects on landscape ecological risks in high altitude plateaus

[EN] In China and other countries, many highway projects are built in extensive and high-altitude flat areas called plateaus. However, research on how the materialisation of these projects produce a series of ecological risks in the landscape is very limited. In this research, a landscape ecological risk analysis model for high-altitude plateaus is proposed. This model is based on the pattern of land uses of the surrounding area. Our study includes buffer analysis, spatial analysis, and geostatistical analysis. We apply the model to the Qumei to Gangba highway, a highway section located in the southeast city of Shigatse at the Chinese Tibet autonomous region. Through global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis, the spatial clustering distribution of ecological risks is also explored. Overall, our study reveals the spatial heterogeneity of ecological risks and how to better mitigate them. According to a comparison of the risk changes in two stages (before and after the highway construction), the impact of highway construction on the ecological environment can be comprehensively quantified. This research will be of interest to construction practitioners seeking to minimize the impact of highway construction projects on the ecological environment. It will also inform future empirical studies in the area of environmental engineering with potential affection to the landscape in high-altitude plateaus.This research is supported by the Branch of China Road and Bridge Corporation (Cambodia) Technology Development Project (No.2020-zlkj-04); National Social Science Fund Projects (No.20BJY010); National Social Science Fund Post-financing Projects (No.19FJYB017); Sichuan-Tibet Railway Major Fundamental Science Problems Special Fund (No.71942006); Qinghai Natural Science Foundation (No. 2020-JY-736); List of Key Science and Technology Projects in China's Transportation Industry in 2018-International Science and Technology Cooperation Project (Nos. 2018-GH-006 and 2019-MS5-100); Emerging Engineering Education Research and Practice Project of Ministry of Education of China (No. E-GKRWJC20202914); Shaanxi Social Science Fund (No. 2017S004); Xi'an Construction Science and Technology Planning Project (Nos. SZJJ201915 and SZJJ201916); Shaanxi Province Higher Education Teaching Reform Project (No. 19BZ016); Fundamental Research for Funds for the Central Universities (Humanities and Social Sciences), Chang'an University (Nos. 300102239616, 300102281669 and 300102231641).Li, C.; Zhang, J.; Philbin, SP.; Yang, X.; Dong, Z.; Hong, J.; Ballesteros-Pérez, P. (2022). Evaluating the impact of highway construction projects on landscape ecological risks in high altitude plateaus. Scientific Reports. 12(1):1-16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08788-811612

Building Code Compliance for Off-Site Construction

There are increasing concerns over building code, regulation compliance, and quality assurance issues in adopting off-site construction techniques in the construction industry related to meeting client expectations and regulatory requirements. Performance-based building regulations often allow for space for innovation but not a safe space for those who intend to introduce new construction techniques not prescribed in building regulations. Through a series of surveys conducted in Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, China, Singapore, and Australia, this study identified approaches and practices used in these countries that overcome compliance challenges when off-site construction techniques are used. The findings showed that manufacturer self-certification is the predominant approach for meeting code compliance requirements. A fit-for-purpose regulatory compliance system also warrants fair allocation of risks and liabilities to anyone involved in the supply chain. However, a healthy and functional regulatory system for off-site compliance requires third-party certification for products and factories and traceability. It is hoped that the lessons learned from this study can help policymakers introduce changes in product standards and legislation in order to improve the compliance and performance of off-site construction. This study concluded that a chain of custody approach is necessary in order to address quality concerns surrounding the adoption of prefabrication technology in countries that are increasingly exploring greater use of manufacturing in construction