Study of embodied energy in healthcare center construction
Abstract
The tendency to build Net-Zero Energy Buildings increases the need to know and control the energy used in them. This research aims to identify and quantify the energy used in the construction of healthcare centres and propose indicators based on different operational variables. For this purpose, seven healthcare centres built between 2007 and 2010 were analysed, and the energy embodied in the manufacturing, transport and placement of materials on-site, including the final tests and commissioning of the building, were calculated. The results show that the average embodied energy is 9.97 GJ per unit of built area, 0.011 for each euro invested in construction and 2.18 GJ for each user. Emissions per worker, construction working hour, electrical power and energy consumed were also typified, and different reference indicators were proposed. Equations have also been devised using multivariate regression to determine the embodied energy of a healthcare centre according to its built area (m2), investment in construction (€) and the number of users (No). The building elements with the most embodied energy were also identified, and the authors found that the average embodied energy is 29.31 times higher than that consumed in a year at the healthcare centre.
Keyword : healthcare engineering, building projects, embodied energy, healthcare buildings, design benchmarks, civil engineering
How to Cite
García-Sanz-Calcedo, J., Neves, N. de S., & Fernandes, J. P. A. (2021). Study of embodied energy in healthcare center construction. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 27(4), 260-267. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2021.14647
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Mandley, S., Harmsen, R., & Worrell, E. (2015). Identifying the potential for resource and embodied energy savings within the UK building sector. Energy and Buildings, 86, 841–851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.10.044
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Pomponi, F., & Moncaster, A. (2017). Circular economy for the built environment: A research framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 710–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.055
Praseeda, K. I., Venkatarama Reddy, B. V. V., & Mani, M. (2019). Embodied and operational energy of rural dwellings in India. International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 38(3), 227–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2017.1418742
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Reddy, B. V. V., Leuzinger, G., & Sreeram, V. S. (2014). Low embodied energy cement stabilised rammed earth building-A case study. Energy and Buildings, 68, 541–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.09.051
Rosselló-Batle, B., Ribas, C., Moià-Pol, A., & Martínez-Moll, V. (2015). Saving potential for embodied energy and CO2 emissions from building elements: A case study. Journal of Building Physics, 39(3), 261–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744259114543982
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Yeo, Z., Ng, R., & Song, B. (2016). Technique for quantification of embodied carbon footprint of construction projects using probabilistic emission factor estimators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 119, 135–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.076
Zhai, Z. J., & Helman, J. M. (2019). Implications of climate changes to building energy and design. Sustainable Cities and Society, 44, 511–519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.10.043
Atmaca, A., & Atmaca, N. (2015). Life cycle energy (LCEA) and carbon dioxide emissions (LCCO2A) assessment of two residential buildings in Gaziantep, Turkey. Energy and Buildings, 102, 417–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.06.008
Azari, R., & Abbasabadi, N. (2018). Embodied energy of buildings: A review of data, methods, challenges, and research trends. Energy and Buildings, 168, 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.03.003
Baker, H., Moncaster, A., & Al-Tabbaa, A. (2017). Decision-making for the demolition or adaptation of buildings. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Forensic Engineering, 170(3), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1680/jfoen.16.00026
Bontempi, E. (2017). A new approach for evaluating the sustainability of raw materials substitution based on embodied energy and the CO2 footprint. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162, 162–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.06.028
Carretero-Ayuso, M. J., & García-Sanz-Calcedo, J. (2018). Comparison between building roof construction systems based on the LCA. Revista de la Construcción, 17(1), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.7764/RDLC.17.1.123
Chang, Y., Ries, R. J., & Lei, S. H. (2012). The embodied energy and emissions of a high-rise education building: A quantification using process-based hybrid life cycle inventory model. Energy and Buildings, 55, 790–798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.10.019
Chastas, P., Theodosiou, T., & Bikas, D. (2016). Embodied energy in residential buildings-towards the nearly zero energy building: A literature review. Building and Environment, 105, 267–282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.05.040
Código Técnico de la Edificación. (2006). Technical building code (in Spanish).
Dascalaki, E., Argiropoulou, P., Balaras, C. A., Droutsa, K. G., Kontoyiannidis, S., & Koubogiannis, D. (2020). On the share of embodied energy in the lifetime energy use of typical Hellenic residential buildings. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, 410, 012070. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/410/1/012070
Ding, G. (2004). The development of a multi-criteria approach for the measurement of sustainable performance for built projects and facilities [PhD thesis]. University of Technology, Sydney.
Dixit, M. K. (2017). Life cycle embodied energy analysis of residential buildings: A review of literature to investigate embodied energy parameters. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 79, 390–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.05.051
Dixit, M. K. (2019). Life cycle recurrent embodied energy calculation of buildings: A review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 209, 731–754. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.230
Estokova, A., Vilcekova, S., & Porhincak, M. (2017). Analyzing embodied energy, global warming and acidification potentials of materials in residential buildings. Procedia Engineering, 180, 1675–1683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.04.330
European Commission. (2019). Energy efficient buildings. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-performance-of-buildings
García-Sanz-Calcedo, J., Al-Kassir, A., & Yusaf, T. (2018). Economic and environmental impact of energy saving in healthcare buildings. Applied Sciences, 8(3), 440. https://doi.org/10.3390/app8030440
García-Sanz-Calcedo, J., & Pena-Corpa, S. (2014). Comparativa entre sistemas constructivos de huecos para ascensores en función del ACV. Dyna, 89(1), 98–105. https://doi.org/10.6036/5800
Giordano, R., Serra, V., Demaria, E., & Duzel, A. (2017). Embodied energy versus operational energy in a nearly zero energy building case study. Energy Procedia, 111, 367–376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2017.03.198
Guo, S., Zheng, S., Hu, Y., Hong, J., Wu, X., & Tang, M. (2019). Embodied energy use in the global construction industry. Applied Energy, 256, 113838. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.113838
Gustavsson, L., & Joelsson, A. (2010). Life cycle primary energy analysis of residential buildings. Energy and Buildings, 42(2), 210–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2009.08.017
Hu, X., Zhang, X., Tang, X., & Lin, X. (2020). Model predictive control of hybrid electric vehicles for fuel economy, emission reductions, and inter-vehicle safety in car-following scenarios. Energy, 196, 117101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117101
Instituto de Tecnología de la Construcción. (2019). Banco ITEC2019. Datos Ambientales [Environmental data]. Barcelona, Spain.
Kibwami, N., & Tutesigensi, A. (2015). Exploring the potential of accounting for embodied carbon emissions in building projects in Uganda. In Proceedings of the 31st Annual ARCOM Conference (pp. 327–336). Association of Researchers in Construction Management.
Mandley, S., Harmsen, R., & Worrell, E. (2015). Identifying the potential for resource and embodied energy savings within the UK building sector. Energy and Buildings, 86, 841–851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.10.044
Mcgain, F., & Naylor, C. (2014). Environmental sustainability in hospitals–a systematic review and research agenda. Journal of Health Services Research & Policy, 19(4), 245–252. https://doi.org/10.1177/1355819614534836
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica. (1998). Reglamento de Instalaciones Térmicas en los Edificios (in Spanish).
Nydahl, H., Andersson, S., Åstrand, A. P., & Olofsson, T. (2019). Environmental performance measures to assess building refurbishment from a life cycle perspective. Energies, 12(2), 299. https://doi.org/10.3390/en12020299
Pomponi, F., & Moncaster, A. (2017). Circular economy for the built environment: A research framework. Journal of Cleaner Production, 143, 710–718. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.055
Praseeda, K. I., Venkatarama Reddy, B. V. V., & Mani, M. (2019). Embodied and operational energy of rural dwellings in India. International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 38(3), 227–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/14786451.2017.1418742
Qarout, L. (2017). Reducing the environmental impacts of building materials: Embodied energy analysis of a high-performance building [Doctoral thesis]. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Ramesh, T., Prakash, R., & Shukla, K. K. (2010). Life cycle energy analysis of buildings: an overview. Energy and Buildings, 42(10), 1592–1600. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2010.05.007
Reay, S., Collier, G., Kennedy-Bueno, J., Old, A., Douglas, R. & Bill, A. (2017). Designing the future of healthcare together: Prototyping a hospital co-design space. CoDesign, 13(4), 227– 244. https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2016.1160127
Reddy, B. V. V., Leuzinger, G., & Sreeram, V. S. (2014). Low embodied energy cement stabilised rammed earth building-A case study. Energy and Buildings, 68, 541–546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.09.051
Rosselló-Batle, B., Ribas, C., Moià-Pol, A., & Martínez-Moll, V. (2015). Saving potential for embodied energy and CO2 emissions from building elements: A case study. Journal of Building Physics, 39(3), 261–284. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744259114543982
Salah, M., Osman, H., & Hosny, O. (2018). Performance-based reliability-centered maintenance planning for hospital facilities. Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 32(1), 04017113. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CF.1943-5509.0001112
Seifert, C., Koep, L., Wolf, P., & Guenther, E. Life cycle assessment as decision support tool for environmental management in hospitals: A literature review. Health Care Management Review, 46(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000248
Singh, R., & Lazarus, I. J. (2018). Energy-efficient building construction and embodied energy. In A. Shukla & A. Sharma (Eds.), Sustainability through energy-efficient buildings (pp. 89–107). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315159065-5
Wang, T., Li, X., Lia, P.-C. & Fang, D. (2016). Building energy efficiency for public hospitals and healthcare facilities in China: Barriers and drivers. Energy, 103, 588–597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.039
Yeo, Z., Ng, R., & Song, B. (2016). Technique for quantification of embodied carbon footprint of construction projects using probabilistic emission factor estimators. Journal of Cleaner Production, 119, 135–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.01.076
Zhai, Z. J., & Helman, J. M. (2019). Implications of climate changes to building energy and design. Sustainable Cities and Society, 44, 511–519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2018.10.043