Life Cycle Environmental Costs of Buildings

Yuanfeng Wang, Bo Pang, Xiangjie Zhang, Jingjing Wang, Yinshan Liu, Chengcheng Shi and Shuowen Zhou
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Yuanfeng Wang: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Bo Pang: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Xiangjie Zhang: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Jingjing Wang: College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Yinshan Liu: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Chengcheng Shi: School of Civil Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
Shuowen Zhou: China Academy of Building Research, Beijing 100013, China

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: Energy consumption and pollutant emissions from buildings have caused serious impacts on the environment. Currently, research on building environmental costs is quite insufficient. Based on life cycle inventory of building materials, fossil fuel and electricity power, a calculating model for environmental costs during different stages is presented. A single-objective optimization model is generated by converting environmental impact into environmental cost, with the same unit with direct cost. Two residential buildings, one located in Beijing and another in Xiamen, China, are taken as the case studies and analyzed to test the proposed model. Moreover, data uncertainty and sensitivity analysis of key parameters, including the discount rate and the unit virtual abatement costs of pollutants, are also conducted. The analysis results show that the environmental cost accounts for about 16% of direct cost. The environmental degradation cost accounts for about 70% of the total environmental cost. According to the probabilistic uncertainty analysis results, the coefficient of variation of material production stage is the largest. The sensitivity analysis results indicate that the unit virtual abatement cost of CO 2 has the largest influence on the final environmental cost.

Keywords: building; environmental costs; green GDP, China; uncertainty analysis; sensitivity analysis (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: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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