Assessment of embodied energy and global warming potential of building construction using life cycle analysis approach: Case studies of residential buildings in Iskandar Malaysia

• Published in: Energy and buildings 2015-04, Vol.93, p.295-302
• Main Authors: Jia Wen, Thong, Chin Siong, Ho, Noor, Z.Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assembly phase; Industrialized building system (IBS); Life cycle assessment (LCA); Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA); Sensitivity analysis
• ISSN: 0378-7788
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.12.002

•IBS has a better advantage in terms of reducing embodied energy (MJ) and GWP [kg CO2-Equiv.] towards a low carbon development.•IBS buildings have lower embodied energy than cast in situ buildings for machineries and transportation usage during construction stage.•Concrete and steel is the major contributors to the embodied energy and emissions to the environment.•Paint surprisingly has high embodied energy in IBS buildings after concrete and reinforced bar in IBS building. Rapid urbanization has greatly impacted housing demand and housing development in Iskandar Malaysia, Johor. Iskandar Malaysia vision towards development of a low carbon society and in line with Malaysian government policy promoting industrialized building system (IBS) to meet the increasing housing demand. Hence, a comparative analysis of life cycle analysis (LCA) at assembly phase has been conducted to identify life cycle impact assessment and hotspot for material and construction stage between IBS and conventional cast in situ for residential apartment buildings in Iskandar Malaysia. The purpose is to apply IBS in residential building construction towards greener building and sustainable development. The functional unit of the comparison analyses was one square metre of produced building area for the respective construction period. A comparable inventory analysis will be carried out between two case studies. An input-output flowchart is created for each process to determine the components included in the analysis. Flows of assembly phase will be modelled in Gabi 6.0 software to further interpret the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) between the two construction methods, and to determine the hotspot between the processes. Finally, a sensitivity analysis will be conducted to determine the influence of variations in assumptions, methods and data on the results.