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Title: Life-Cycle Evaluation of Concrete Building Construction as a Strategy for Sustainable Cities

Abstract

Structural materials in commercial buildings in the United States account for a significant fraction of national energy use, resource consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Robust decisions for balancing and minimizing these various environmental effects require that structural materials selections follow a life-cycle, systems modeling approach. This report provides a concise overview of the development and use of a new life-cycle assessment (LCA) model for structural materials in U.S. commercial buildings-the Berkeley Lab Building Materials Pathways (B-PATH) model. B-PATH aims to enhance environmental decision-making in the commercial building LCA, design, and planning communities through the following key features: (1) Modeling of discrete technology options in the production, transportation, construction, and end of life processes associated U.S. structural building materials; (2) Modeling of energy supply options for electricity provision and directly combusted fuels across the building life cycle; (3) Comprehensiveness of relevant building mass and energy flows and environmental indicators; (4) Ability to estimate modeling uncertainties through easy creation of different life-cycle technology and energy supply pathways for structural materials; and (5) Encapsulation of the above features in a transparent public use model. The report summarizes literature review findings, methods development, model use, and recommendations for future work in the areamore » of LCA for commercial buildings.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1223003
Report Number(s):
LBNL-5531E
DOE Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; 29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY; 25 ENERGY STORAGE; Life cycle assessment; structural materials; environmental impacts; commercial buildings; modeling

Citation Formats

Stadel, Alexander, Gursel, Petek, and Masanet, Eric. Life-Cycle Evaluation of Concrete Building Construction as a Strategy for Sustainable Cities. United States: N. p., 2012. Web. doi:10.2172/1223003.
Stadel, Alexander, Gursel, Petek, & Masanet, Eric. Life-Cycle Evaluation of Concrete Building Construction as a Strategy for Sustainable Cities. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1223003
Stadel, Alexander, Gursel, Petek, and Masanet, Eric. 2012. "Life-Cycle Evaluation of Concrete Building Construction as a Strategy for Sustainable Cities". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1223003. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1223003.
@article{osti_1223003,
title = {Life-Cycle Evaluation of Concrete Building Construction as a Strategy for Sustainable Cities},
author = {Stadel, Alexander and Gursel, Petek and Masanet, Eric},
abstractNote = {Structural materials in commercial buildings in the United States account for a significant fraction of national energy use, resource consumption, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Robust decisions for balancing and minimizing these various environmental effects require that structural materials selections follow a life-cycle, systems modeling approach. This report provides a concise overview of the development and use of a new life-cycle assessment (LCA) model for structural materials in U.S. commercial buildings-the Berkeley Lab Building Materials Pathways (B-PATH) model. B-PATH aims to enhance environmental decision-making in the commercial building LCA, design, and planning communities through the following key features: (1) Modeling of discrete technology options in the production, transportation, construction, and end of life processes associated U.S. structural building materials; (2) Modeling of energy supply options for electricity provision and directly combusted fuels across the building life cycle; (3) Comprehensiveness of relevant building mass and energy flows and environmental indicators; (4) Ability to estimate modeling uncertainties through easy creation of different life-cycle technology and energy supply pathways for structural materials; and (5) Encapsulation of the above features in a transparent public use model. The report summarizes literature review findings, methods development, model use, and recommendations for future work in the area of LCA for commercial buildings.},
doi = {10.2172/1223003},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1223003}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2012},
month = {Wed Jan 18 00:00:00 EST 2012}
}