Concrete Sustainability Hub @MIT Urban Living Laboratory & CSH 27 Oct 2010

Concrete Sustainability HubConcrete Sustainability Hub

@MIT@MIT

Urban Living Laboratory & CSH 27 Oct 2010

Outline

Timeline & Structure

LCA Work – Year 1

LCA Work – Year 2

CSH & ULL: Contributions and Questions

Urban Living Laboratory & CSH 27 Oct 2010

A Brief History

MAY 2009: First contacts

OCT 2009: Opening of the CSHub@MIT

DEC 2009: Start of two projects

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): “The Edge of Concrete”

Concrete Sciences (CSP): “The Genesis of Concrete”

JUL 2010: H. Jennings joins as Executive Director

AUG 31, 2010: 1ST CSHub INDUSTRY DAY

Timeline & Structure LCA Work – Yr 1 LCA Work- Yr 2 Questions & Contributions

Projects & Goals

Sustainable and Holistic Development of the Cement and Concrete Industry.

Develop information useful to policy and code Introduce transformational strategies for new technologies

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Goal: Develop a complete understanding of CO2e of concrete in:

- Pavement- Buildings

SHORT-TERM BENEFITS TOINDUSTRY

Concrete Sciences (CSP)

Goal: Develop a first principle understanding of Cement and cement based systems.

- More with Less- Higher Performances

MEDIUM-TERM BENEFITS TOINDUSTRY


Organization


• CSHub@ MIT: Executive Offices– Hamlin Jennings, Executive Director– Donna Hudson, Program Officer

• CSHub: Board– Brian McCarthy (PCA)– Julie Garbini (NRMCA) – Franz-Josef Ulm (MIT)– John Ochsendorf (MIT)

• CSHub Industry Advisory Council– Industry Executives– Led by: Craddock/Batten

• CSHub Industry Advisory Committees– Currently 8 IACs; 4 LCA, 4 CSP– Industry driven.

MIT Departments Involved:Architecture, Mechanical Eng, Civil Eng, Materials Science, Engineering Systems

PI (et. al.): Concrete Science

PI (et. al.): Life Cycle Analysis

Motivations for LCA Work


1) Growing demand for quantifying performance of the built environment

2) Increasing recognition that green design includes the construction phase and the operating phase of buildings

3) Advantages of concrete construction in lowering the emissions in the operating phase

2030 Challenge calls for carbon reductions of:60% in 2010 (of average carbon emissions for building type)70% in 201580% in 202090% in 2025 Carbon-neutral in 2030

Goals for LCA Work


Identify advantages over full life cycle

Identify areas for improvement

Build foundations for future studies

Pavement: Model Scenarios


Concrete versus asphalt roads for the following:

Pavement: Results


Roadway lighting, lane closures, etc.

Pavement: Summary


Concrete production emissions are higher than asphalt, but concrete use phase emissions are lower High traffic volume concrete highways can have up to 90% lower

emissions for the entire life cycle compared to asphalt highways because of the greater fuel efficiency of vehicles driving on concrete pavements.

But no two pavements are alike The total carbon footprint of a pavement can vary by two orders of

magnitude depending on the traffic volume, rehabilitation schedule, and many other assumptions.

Pavement roughness and deflection are still inaccurate No one has accurately quantified their interactive effects, the effect of

each pavement layer, nor the effect of temperature.

Buildings: Model Scenarios


Climate

Bldg Type

Analysis

Phoenix Chicago

Pre-use phase Use phase End of life

Extraction Heating DisposalManufacturing Cooling RecyclingTransportation Lighting ReuseConcrete Fans TransportationSteel Plug loadsInsulation MaintenanceGlass Energy Mix

Energy Model (E+)LCA (GABI)

Commercial Single-Family Residential Multi-Family Residential

Reinforced Concrete Frame vs.

Structural Steel Frame

Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) vs.

Wood Frame

Buildings: Results - Commercial


Total HVAC:

- 5% Chicago

- 6% Phoenix

CHICAGO PHOENIX

Buildings: Results - Commercial


Chicago

- 2.5%

Phoenix

- 2.7%

Buildings: Summary - Commercial


Thermal mass provides energy savings over time

Better estimation needed of concrete recycling rates and end-of-life emissions

Even greater advantages are possible for concrete buildings

Buildings: Results – Residential


• Results based on average quality wood construction, insulated to meet code vs. typical ICF quality construction

• Primary research performed to determine air-tightness of ICF construction• MIT sponsored tests on 15 ICF houses around the country

Chicago

- 34%

Phoenix

- 6.3%

Buildings: Summary - Residential


ICF homes deliver substantial energy savings over the lifetime of residential buildings

Blower door testing reveled that ICF homes offer tight construction with improved energy performance

Significant further improvements can be made to the life cycle performance of ICF homes

Year 2: Moving Ahead


Year 1 = Benchmarking, Investigating claims

Year 2 = Innovation, Original research

Since Industry Day: Complete studies (including sensitivity) and write reports on Yr 1 work

Integrate new team members

Create and finalize plans for Year 2

Pavement: Moving Ahead


Refine our fuel consumption models to better account for pavement-vehicle interactions and to instill greater confidence in fuel savings due to pavement design.

Continue peer review process to have an expert critical review of our LCA study.

Policy Analysis - Analyze scenarios that quantify the carbon emissions associated with proposed renewal and improved upkeep of the national highway system. Combine with life cycle economic costing to understand the economic

impact of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Buildings: Moving Ahead


Refine and expand LCA

Next Generation Concrete Buildings

Passive strategies Night cooling Passive solar heating

Active strategies Integration w/Controls Radiant systems Low-lift cooling

“Predictive Pre-Cooling Control for Low Lift Radiant Cooling using Building Thermal Mass” by N. Gayeski, 2010

Envelope systems

Discussion


Project Timeline & Goals

Involvement of other Departments/Team Members

Level and type of involvement of CSHub Multiple options for degree of involvement

Documents

Concrete Sustainability Hub @MIT Urban Living Laboratory & CSH 27 Oct 2010