Green Performance Evaluation System for Energy-Efficiency-Based Planning for Construction Site Layout

Cynthia Changxin Wang, Samad M.E. Sepasgozar, Mudan Wang, Jun Sun and Xin Ning
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Cynthia Changxin Wang: Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Samad M.E. Sepasgozar: Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Mudan Wang: Faculty of Built Environment, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Jun Sun: School of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Xin Ning: School of Investment & Construction Management, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian 116025, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-21

Abstract: The location of temporary facilities in a construction project and the entire site layout plan directly affect project objectives such as time, labor cost, and material transportation and handling. The layout of construction sites also affects entrainment factors such as energy consumption, carbon footprints, and overall construction operation productivity. While site layout planning has been intensively investigated from a project objectives perspective, there have been very few studies of energy-efficiency-based planning, or of the sustainability performance of site layouts. This study developed a green performance evaluation system aimed at improving the sustainability of construction site layouts. The identified factors include six sustainable evaluation categories covering energy conservation and environmental protection, people-oriented principles, construction efficiency, intensity of economic growth, intensity of space use, and the overall control of process. An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was adopted to determine the weight of each attribute and a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was established to carry out the evaluation. The 23 attributes adopted in this paper were identified in the literature; however, the major contribution of this paper is the development of a green performance evaluation system. This system integrates both qualitative and quantitative attributes and provides an overall evaluation of the environmental effectiveness of a construction site layout. The proposed evaluation system was validated with a commercial building project. The average utilization ratio of the case study site was calculated as 94%, and lessons learned are discussed in this paper. The case study analysis identified available site spaces around the building and examined how the arrangement of resources and facilities ensures effective connection between construction activities. The findings showed that the facility’s layout plays a crucial role in energy consumption and green performance. The proposed system will support construction project managers to create high-performance construction site layouts in more scientific and systematic ways.

Keywords: green performance; energy efficiency; construction; site layout planning; analytic hierarchy process (AHP); fuzzy comprehensive evaluation; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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