Green Template for Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings Based on Building Information Modeling: Focus on Embodied Environmental Impact

Sungwoo Lee, Sungho Tae, Seungjun Roh and Taehyung Kim
Additional contact information
Sungwoo Lee: Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Sa 3-dong, Sangrok-gu Ansan 426-791, Korea
Sungho Tae: School of Architecture & Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Sa 3-dong, Sangrok-gu Ansan 426-791, Korea
Seungjun Roh: Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Sa 3-dong, Sangrok-gu Ansan 426-791, Korea
Taehyung Kim: Architectural Engineering, Hanyang University, Sa 3-dong, Sangrok-gu Ansan 426-791, Korea

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 12, 1-15

Abstract: The increased popularity of building information modeling (BIM) for application in the construction of eco-friendly green buildings has given rise to techniques for evaluating green buildings constructed using BIM features. Existing BIM-based green building evaluation techniques mostly rely on externally provided evaluation tools, which pose problems associated with interoperability, including a lack of data compatibility and the amount of time required for format conversion. To overcome these problems, this study sets out to develop a template (the “green template”) for evaluating the embodied environmental impact of using a BIM design tool as part of BIM-based building life-cycle assessment (LCA) technology development. Firstly, the BIM level of detail (LOD) was determined to evaluate the embodied environmental impact, and constructed a database of the impact factors of the embodied environmental impact of the major building materials, thereby adopting an LCA-based approach. The libraries of major building elements were developed by using the established databases and compiled evaluation table of the embodied environmental impact of the building materials. Finally, the green template was developed as an embodied environmental impact evaluation tool and a case study was performed to test its applicability. The results of the green template-based embodied environmental impact evaluation of a test building were validated against those of its actual quantity takeoff (2D takeoff), and its reliability was confirmed by an effective error rate of ≤5%. This study aims to develop a system for assessing the impact of the substances discharged from concrete production process on six environmental impact categories, i.e. , global warming (GWP), acidification (AP), eutrophication (EP), abiotic depletion (ADP), ozone depletion (ODP), and photochemical oxidant creation (POCP), using the life a cycle assessment (LCA) method. To achieve this, we proposed an LCA method specifically applicable to concrete and tailored to the Korean concrete industry by adapting the ISO standards to suit the Korean situations.

Keywords: green template; building information modeling (BIM); life cycle assessment; embodied environmental impact; building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/12/15830/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/7/12/15830/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:7:y:2015:i:12:p:15830-16512:d:60586

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().