Assessment of the embodied carbon in precast concrete wall panels using a hybrid life cycle assessment approach in Malaysia

Abstract

Please cite this article in press as: Omar, W. M. S. W., et al. Assessment of the embodied carbon in precast concrete wall panels using a hybrid life cycle assessment approach in Malaysia. Sustainable Cities and Society (2013), http://dx. a b s t r a c tThere is currently growing interest in quantifying the direct and indirect carbon emissions embodied in construction materials and their components production. Previous research shows that indirect emission could be higher than direct emission for energy intensity materials such as cement and steel reinforcement. Quantifying direct emissions alone would underestimate the carbon emissions associated with a material and in turn its environmental impact. The assessment of indirect emissions is a challenging task involving upstream processes of material production. This paper investigates the existing literature on the quantification of embodied carbon by both direct and indirect emissions as well as demonstrating the application of a hybrid life cycle assessment method in building construction. The focus of this paper is the Malaysian context however the principles apply universally. A typical 2-storey residential building has been investigated to determine the total carbon emissions when comparing two construction techniques: conventionally reinforced concrete and precast concrete panels. This paper demonstrates the application of hybrid life cycle assessment by expanding the boundaries of process methods and reducing the sensitivities of I-O life cycle assessment to the raw material price fluctuation for product manufacturing.

Incorporating sustainable development principles into building design: a review from a structural perspective including case study

“…Several published studies question the accuracy of previous studies based usually on system boundary inconsistencies and the methodology used to calculate the OE and/or EE (Fay et al ., ; Junnila et al ., ; Dimoudi and Tompa, ; Crawford, ; Stephan et al ., ; Dixit et al ., ; Dixit et al ., ; Omar et al ., ). After a systematic assessment of the published values detailing the contribution of each of these life cycle stages, the following summary was presented (Table ).…”

Research on the Measurement on Carbon Emissions for Industrialized Buildings

“…One of the key indicators of climate change and environment effect is greenhouse gas emission (Omar et al 2014). And the carbon emission is the main component of greenhouse gas, so the researching on carbon emission of industrialized building can effectively reflect its impact on environment (Han et al 2012).…”

Environmental Impact Analysis on Residential Building in Malaysia Using Life Cycle Assessment

“…Since then, it has been used in other industries such as electronics, consumer goods, potable water production, electricity generation, waste management and buildings [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Buildings' studies in Malaysia are mainly focused on the impact assessment of different materials.…”

“…Fujita et al [19] used LCA to estimate CO 2 emission for a concrete and timber based house using an input-output method during the pre-use and operation phase. Omar et al [20] compared the pre-use phase of two-storey houses with a conventional concrete house and an IBS system house with a precast wall panel using a hybrid method for concrete and steel reinforcement. Wen et al [21] compared a four-storey conventional apartment in Johor Bahru, Malaysia and a four-storey IBS apartment in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor.…”