John Basbagill

Integrating Life Cycle Assessment into Early Stage Building Design

November 27, 2012

Agenda

Design Problem

1

Method2

Results

3

4

Conclusions5

Research Question

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Research Question

How can BIM-enabled life cycle environmental impact feedback help designers understand which design choices contribute to a building’s carbon footprint?

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1

Scope

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1

3: Cost

Pre-operational

CO2e

Energy simulation

MRR Schedule

Pre-operational

cost

Operational CO2e

Operational cost

Life-cycle CO2e

Life-cycle cost

Feedback processor

• MDO• Sensitivity

analysis• Design space characterization

1

2 3

4 1,4

2 5

5

6

1 = DProfiler2 = Athena, SimaPro3 = eQUEST

4 = CostLab5 = Excel6 = ModelCenter

Software Implementation Key

Building information

model1

Method

2: Operational

1: Embodied

Research Phases

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2

3 Design ProblemSCOPE

Housing buildings

OBJECTIVE

Provide LCA feedback on design choices

CONSTRAINTS

(1) Gross floor area(2) Location

(1) Number of buildings(2) Orientation(3) Number of stories(4) Footprint(5) WWR(6) Materials(7) Building component sizing

5.81E21

VARIABLES

DESIGN SPACE SIZE

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(1) Number of buildings: 3 or 4

VARIABLES

(3) Number of stories: 5, 6, 7, or 8

(2) Orientation: 0-360°

(4) Building footprint: H-shape

Design Problem

(6) Materials

(7) Building component dimensional sizes

3

(5) Window-to-wall ratio (WWR)

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(1) Number of buildings: 3 or 4

VARIABLES

(3) Number of stories: 5, 6, 7, or 8

(2) Orientation: 0-360°

(4) Building footprint: H-shape

Design Problem

(6) Materials

(7) Building component dimensional sizes

3

(5) Window-to-wall ratio (WWR)

WWR = 0.15

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(1) Number of buildings: 3 or 4

VARIABLES

(3) Number of stories: 5, 6, 7, or 8

(2) Orientation: 0-360°

(4) Building footprint: H-shape

Design Problem

(6) Materials

(7) Building component dimensional sizes

3

(5) Window-to-wall ratio (WWR)

WWR = 0.50

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(1) Number of buildings: 3 or 4

VARIABLES

(3) Number of stories: 5, 6, 7, or 8

(2) Orientation

(4) Building footprint: H-shape

Design Problem

(6) Materials

(7) Building component dimensional sizes

3

(5) Window-to-wall ratio (WWR)

Cladding (7)Substructure (2)Partitions (5)Flooring surface (8)Floor structure (12)Column and beams (10)Window assembly (5)Wall structure (6)Wall finishes (2)Roof (50)Mechanical systemRoof assemblyStairsDoors

MATERIALS (# CHOICES)

CladdingFlooring surfaceCeilingWall finishesSubstructureWindow assemblyMechanical systemElectrical systemPlumbing system

THICKNESSES (2 CHOICES EACH)

Basbagill J, Flager F, Lepech M, Fischer M. Application of life cycle assessment to early stage building design for reduced embodied environmental impacts. Building and Environment 2012 (in publication). 10 of 21

3 Design space characterization

PROCESSING SOFTWARE

ModelCenter

VARIABLES

Discrete: 22

Continuous: 1

10,000

Orthogonal array: 9,409Latin hypercube: 591

5.81E21

23!

DESIGN SPACE SIZE

DECISION SEQUENCES

NUMBER OF RUNS

SAMPLING ALGORITHM

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Pre-operational

CO2e

Energy simulation

MRR Schedule

Pre-operational

cost

Operational CO2e

Operational cost

Life-cycle CO2e

Life-cycle cost

Feedback processor• MDO•

Sensitivity analysis

• Design space

characterization

1

2 3

4 1,4

2 5

5

6

Building information

model1

4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Orientation = 323 to 356°

POSSIBLE VALUES0-360°

Orientation = 323 to 356°

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONOrientation = 323 to 356°

n/a

KEY

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Cladding material = steel

POSSIBLE VALUES

Cladding material = steel

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONCladding material = steel

claddingsubstructurepartitionsfloor surfacefloor structure

columns & beamswindowswalls structurewall finishesroof

steel, vinyl, stucco, brick, wood, limestone, concrete

Cladding material = vinyl

KEY

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Number of floors = 6

POSSIBLE VALUES

KEY

Number of floors = 5

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONNumber of floors = 6

Number of floors = 6

n/a

5, 6, 7, 8

Number of floors = 7

Number of floors = 8

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Number of floors = 6

POSSIBLE VALUES

KEY

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONNumber of floors = 6

Number of floors = 6

n/a

5, 6, 7, 8

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Number of floors = 6

POSSIBLE VALUES

KEY

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONOrientation = 323 to 346°

Number of floors = 6

n/a

0-360°

Orientation = 323 to 346°

2. Orientation = 323 to 346°

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

DECISIONS REMAINING

DECISIONS MADE

Number of buildingsNumber of floorsOrientationWWRShapeMaterialsSize

Total Impact

1. Number of floors = 6

POSSIBLE VALUES

KEY

SUB-DECISIONS

CURRENT DECISIONCladding material = steel

Number of floors = 6

Orientation = 323 to 346°

2. Orientation = 323 to 346°

3. Cladding material = steel

Cladding material = steel

steel, vinyl, stucco, brick, wood, limestone, concrete

claddingsubstructurepartitionsfloor surfacefloor structure

columns & beamswindowswalls structurewall finishesroof

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4 ResultsPro

bab

ility

(%

)

Impact (kg CO2e)

150,000

260,000

200,000

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Impact Distributions18

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5 Conclusions

Developed BIM-enabled life cycle environmental impact feedback method

Accounted for embodied and operational impacts

Parametrically control many design inputs

Designers visually understand effect of design choices:

influential versus non-influential

positive or negative building componentsmaterialsdimensional thicknesses

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5 Future Work

Model does not account for:

coupled inter-life-cycle-phase design decisions

solar heat gain coefficient (glazing)

coupled variables

shading (fins, overhangs)

insulation

cladding material

glazing material + glazing thickness

Insulation material + insulation thickness

cladding material + cladding thickness

cladding thickness

roof thickness

wall structure thickness

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5 Future Work

Impact Reduced/$

% Reduction

A: SubstructureB: ShellC: InteriorsD: Services

10 20 30 40 50

piles

mat foundation

footing

columns and beams

roof

floors

cladding

mechanical

electrical

conveying

fireplumbing

partitions

wall finishes

doors

flooring

ceiling

15

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Questions?