IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v6y2013i2p1125-1141d23711.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Materials Life Cycle Assessment of a Net-Zero Energy Building

Author

Listed:
  • Cassandra L. Thiel

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 949 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261,USA)

  • Nicole Campion

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 949 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261,USA)

  • Amy E. Landis

    (School of Sustainability and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 875306, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA)

  • Alex K. Jones

    (Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 205 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261,USA)

  • Laura A. Schaefer

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 153 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
    Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, University of Pittsburgh, 153 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA)

  • Melissa M. Bilec

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 949 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261,USA
    Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, University of Pittsburgh, 153 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA)

Abstract

This study analyzed the environmental impacts of the materials phase of a net-zero energy building. The Center for Sustainable Landscapes (CSL) is a three-story, 24,350 square foot educational, research, and administrative office in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. This net-zero energy building is designed to meet Living Building Challenge criteria. The largest environmental impacts from the production of building materials is from concrete, structural steel, photovoltaic (PV) panels, inverters, and gravel. Comparing the LCA results of the CSL to standard commercial structures reveals a 10% larger global warming potential and a nearly equal embodied energy per square feet, largely due to the CSL’s PV system. As a net-zero energy building, the environmental impacts associated with the use phase are expected to be very low relative to standard structures. Future studies will incorporate the construction and use phases of the CSL for a more comprehensive life cycle perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Cassandra L. Thiel & Nicole Campion & Amy E. Landis & Alex K. Jones & Laura A. Schaefer & Melissa M. Bilec, 2013. "A Materials Life Cycle Assessment of a Net-Zero Energy Building," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-17, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:2:p:1125-1141:d:23711
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/2/1125/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/6/2/1125/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jane C. Bare, 2002. "Traci: The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 6(3‐4), pages 49-78, July.
    2. Yohanis, Y.G. & Norton, B., 2002. "Life-cycle operational and embodied energy for a generic single-storey office building in the UK," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 77-92.
    3. Johnson, Jeremiah & Reck, B.K. & Wang, T. & Graedel, T.E., 2008. "The energy benefit of stainless steel recycling," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 181-192, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ignacio Zabalza & Sabina Scarpellini & Alfonso Aranda & Eva Llera & Alberto Jáñez, 2013. "Use of LCA as a Tool for Building Ecodesign. A Case Study of a Low Energy Building in Spain," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(8), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Moonjong Jang & Ho-Jin Choi & Chae-Gyun Lim & Byoungwoong An & Jungsub Sim, 2022. "Optimization of ESS Scheduling for Cost Reduction in Commercial and Industry Customers in Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-16, March.
    3. Dixit, Manish K., 2017. "Life cycle embodied energy analysis of residential buildings: A review of literature to investigate embodied energy parameters," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 390-413.
    4. Federica Cucchiella & Idiano D’Adamo & Paolo Rosa, 2015. "Industrial Photovoltaic Systems: An Economic Analysis in Non-Subsidized Electricity Markets," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-16, November.
    5. Jhuma Sadhukhan, 2022. "Net-Zero Action Recommendations for Scope 3 Emission Mitigation Using Life Cycle Assessment," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Grant Mosey & Brian Deal, 2020. "Multivariate Optimization in Large-Scale Building Problems: An Architectural and Urban Design Approach for Balancing Social, Environmental, and Economic Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Panagiotis Chastas & Theodoros Theodosiou & Karolos J. Kontoleon & Dimitrios Bikas, 2017. "The Effect of Embodied Impact on the Cost-Optimal Levels of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings: A Case Study of a Residential Building in Thessaloniki, Greece," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Cabeza, Luisa F. & Rincón, Lídia & Vilariño, Virginia & Pérez, Gabriel & Castell, Albert, 2014. "Life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) of buildings and the building sector: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 394-416.
    9. Krzysztof Wąs & Jan Radoń & Agnieszka Sadłowska-Sałęga, 2020. "Maintenance of Passive House Standard in the Light of Long-Term Study on Energy Use in a Prefabricated Lightweight Passive House in Central Europe," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Francesco Pomponi & Bernardino D’Amico & Alice M. Moncaster, 2017. "A Method to Facilitate Uncertainty Analysis in LCAs of Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-15, April.
    11. Sadiq Ahmad & Ayaz Ahmad & Muhammad Naeem & Waleed Ejaz & Hyung Seok Kim, 2018. "A Compendium of Performance Metrics, Pricing Schemes, Optimization Objectives, and Solution Methodologies of Demand Side Management for the Smart Grid," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-33, October.
    12. Al-Sammar, Rawan & Aleisa, Esra, 2024. "Evaluating energy efficiency and environmental sustainability in fiberglass prefabricated modular structures," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    13. Fabio Magrassi & Adriana Del Borghi & Michela Gallo & Carlo Strazza & Michela Robba, 2016. "Optimal Planning of Sustainable Buildings: Integration of Life Cycle Assessment and Optimization in a Decision Support System (DSS)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(7), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Hyo Seon Park & Bongkeun Kwon & Yunah Shin & Yousok Kim & Taehoon Hong & Se Woon Choi, 2013. "Cost and CO 2 Emission Optimization of Steel Reinforced Concrete Columns in High-Rise Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 6(11), pages 1-16, October.
    15. Edwin Koźniewski & Karolina Banaszak, 2020. "Geometric Aspects of Assessing the Amount of Material Consumption in the Construction of a Designed Single-Family House," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-19, October.
    16. Anna Laura Pisello, 2015. "Experimental Analysis of Cool Traditional Solar Shading Systems for Residential Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-14, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John A. Mathews, 2020. "Schumpeterian economic dynamics of greening: propagation of green eco-platforms," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 30(4), pages 929-948, September.
    2. Mohamed, Ahmed M.A. & Al-Habaibeh, Amin & Abdo, Hafez & Elabar, Sherifa, 2015. "Towards exporting renewable energy from MENA region to Europe: An investigation into domestic energy use and householders’ energy behaviour in Libya," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 247-262.
    3. Dwivedi, Puneet & Bailis, Robert & Stainback, Andrew & Carter, Douglas R., 2012. "Impact of payments for carbon sequestered in wood products and avoided carbon emissions on the profitability of NIPF landowners in the US South," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 63-69.
    4. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin, 2016. "Emission reduction of China׳s steel industry: Progress and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 319-327.
    5. Rai, Deepak & Sodagar, Behzad & Fieldson, Rosi & Hu, Xiao, 2011. "Assessment of CO2 emissions reduction in a distribution warehouse," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 2271-2277.
    6. Tan, Hao & Sun, Aijun & Lau, Henry, 2013. "CO2 embodiment in China–Australia trade: The drivers and implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 1212-1220.
    7. Reza Broun & Hamed Babaizadeh & Abolfazl Zakersalehi & Gillian F. Menzies, 2014. "Integrated Life Cycle Energy and Greenhouse Gas Analysis of Exterior Wall Systems for Residential Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(12), pages 1-12, November.
    8. Shakira R. Hobbs & Tyler M. Harris & William J. Barr & Amy E. Landis, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment of Bioplastics and Food Waste Disposal Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-14, June.
    9. David E. Meyer & Sarah Cashman & Anthony Gaglione, 2021. "Improving the reliability of chemical manufacturing life cycle inventory constructed using secondary data," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 20-35, February.
    10. Browne, David & O'Regan, Bernadette & Moles, Richard, 2009. "Use of ecological footprinting to explore alternative domestic energy and electricity policy scenarios in an Irish city-region," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2205-2213, June.
    11. Nahlik, Matthew J. & Chester, Mikhail V., 2014. "Transit-oriented smart growth can reduce life-cycle environmental impacts and household costs in Los Angeles," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 21-30.
    12. Quan-Hoang Vuong & Manh-Tung Ho & Hong-Kong To Nguyen & Minh-Hoang Nguyen, 2019. "The trilemma of sustainable industrial growth: evidence from a piloting OECD’s Green city," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-14, December.
    13. Malmqvist, Tove & Glaumann, Mauritz & Scarpellini, Sabina & Zabalza, Ignacio & Aranda, Alfonso & Llera, Eva & Díaz, Sergio, 2011. "Life cycle assessment in buildings: The ENSLIC simplified method and guidelines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 1900-1907.
    14. Grubert, E. & Zacarias, M., 2022. "Paradigm shifts for environmental assessment of decarbonizing energy systems: Emerging dominance of embodied impacts and design-oriented decision support needs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    15. Eckelman, Matthew J., 2010. "Facility-level energy and greenhouse gas life-cycle assessment of the global nickel industry," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 256-266.
    16. Zhang, Wenjing & Fu, Shikun & Gao, Peng & Wu, Weidong & Pan, Quanwen & Wang, Liwei, 2024. "Solar photovoltaic refrigeration system coupled with a flexible, cost-effective and high-energy-density chemisorption cold energy storage module," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    17. Yvan Dutil & Daniel Rousse, 2012. "Energy Costs of Energy Savings in Buildings: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 4(8), pages 1-22, August.
    18. Rauf, Abdul & Crawford, Robert H., 2015. "Building service life and its effect on the life cycle embodied energy of buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 140-148.
    19. Ben Morelli & Sarah Cashman & Xin (Cissy) Ma & Jay Garland & Jason Turgeon & Lauren Fillmore & Diana Bless & Michael Nye, 2018. "Effect of Nutrient Removal and Resource Recovery on Life Cycle Cost and Environmental Impacts of a Small Scale Water Resource Recovery Facility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    20. Xin Lu & Hajime Ohno & Osamu Takeda & Takahiro Miki & Yasushi Sasaki & Hongmin Zhu & Tetsuya Nagasaka, 2022. "Toward an efficient recycling system: Evaluating recyclability of end‐of‐life stainless steels by considering elements distribution during a remelting process," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(5), pages 1701-1713, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:6:y:2013:i:2:p:1125-1141:d:23711. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.