A Study on Ecological Emergy and Carbon-Emissions-Coupling Sustainability of Building Systems

Hechi Wang (), Zerong Yan, Junxue Zhang (), Hongying Wang, Zhaoyi Yan, Xinxin Chen, Xinyi He, Jianwei Ge and Qi Zhou
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Hechi Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Zerong Yan: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Junxue Zhang: School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang 212100, China
Hongying Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Zhaoyi Yan: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Xinxin Chen: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Xinyi He: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Jianwei Ge: School of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Environment, Hubei University of Technology, Wuhan 430068, China
Qi Zhou: School of Architecture, Architectural History and Theory, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 17, 1-23

Abstract: In the face of the increasingly deteriorating global environment, the sustainability of building systems has become a major research topic. This paper presents sustainability research on large-scale building cases from the perspectives of ecological emergy value and carbon emissions. Specifically, by calculating the emergy value and carbon emissions throughout the entire life cycle of the building system, a quantitative analysis of sustainability based on the LCA–emergy–carbon-emissions framework is completed. The results indicate that from the perspectives of both emergy value (over 80%) and carbon emissions (over 90%), the operational stage and the building-material-production stage are the controlling factors. Retrofit design strategies help enhance the sustainability performance of the building system, but different types of design strategies have different effects. The landscape-transformation-design strategy (strategy A) significantly improves the ecological sustainability of the building system, the equipment-improvement strategy (strategy B) helps reduce the carbon emissions of the building system, while the infrastructure-renewal strategy not only has a weaker impact on sustainability improvement but also generates the highest carbon emissions. Additionally, with the aim of controlling carbon emissions, the integration of solar clean energy sources contributes to the overall sustainability of the building system, providing references for architects and building managers.

Keywords: sustainability; LCA–emergy; LCA–carbon emissions; building system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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