TY - GEN
T1 - Carbon emissions modeling for green buildings
T2 - 2nd Annual International Conference Sustainable Design, Engineering and Construction, ICSDEC 2012
AU - Kwok, K. Y.G.
AU - Statz, C.
AU - Wade, B.
AU - Chong, Wai K.Oswald
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Green building certification is a good start for the construction industry to benchmark the environmental impact of buildings. However, the green building certifications around the world disregard the carbon footprint calculation for certified buildings. The positive contribution of green building designs may not be reflected on the points and rating in the certification. It is hard to understand the environmental impact only through points. The New Building Institute (NBI) challenged the rating system because high credential buildings were not necessarily more green than low buildings. The incident raised questions about the real energy savings of green buildings. To address these concerns, a common benchmark should replace the current green building certification rating systems around the world. Since carbon emissions are widely used to measure the environmental impact of raw materials or fuels, such as gasoline, methanol, aggregates, and cement, they can also be applied in green building construction and operation. The paper: (1) determines the environmental impact in green building certification criteria; (2) finds relationship between green building ratings and carbon emissions; (3) establishes a carbon emission calculation system for green buildings certification. The results show that the green features, such as the use of greenery, and water saving fittings, used in green buildings lower water and energy consumption, and they lower the environmental impacts to the environment.
AB - Green building certification is a good start for the construction industry to benchmark the environmental impact of buildings. However, the green building certifications around the world disregard the carbon footprint calculation for certified buildings. The positive contribution of green building designs may not be reflected on the points and rating in the certification. It is hard to understand the environmental impact only through points. The New Building Institute (NBI) challenged the rating system because high credential buildings were not necessarily more green than low buildings. The incident raised questions about the real energy savings of green buildings. To address these concerns, a common benchmark should replace the current green building certification rating systems around the world. Since carbon emissions are widely used to measure the environmental impact of raw materials or fuels, such as gasoline, methanol, aggregates, and cement, they can also be applied in green building construction and operation. The paper: (1) determines the environmental impact in green building certification criteria; (2) finds relationship between green building ratings and carbon emissions; (3) establishes a carbon emission calculation system for green buildings certification. The results show that the green features, such as the use of greenery, and water saving fittings, used in green buildings lower water and energy consumption, and they lower the environmental impacts to the environment.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84887374947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84887374947&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1061/9780784412688.014
DO - 10.1061/9780784412688.014
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84887374947
SN - 9780784412688
T3 - ICSDEC 2012: Developing the Frontier of Sustainable Design, Engineering, and Construction - Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Sustainable Design and Construction
SP - 118
EP - 126
BT - ICSDEC 2012
Y2 - 7 November 2012 through 9 November 2012
ER -