A Building Information Modeling-Life Cycle Cost Analysis Integrated Model to Enhance Decisions Related to the Selection of Construction Methods at the Conceptual Design Stage of Buildings

Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) provides a systematic approach to assess the total cost associated with owning, operating, and maintaining assets throughout their entire life. BIM empowers architects and designers to perform real-time evaluations to explore various design options. However, when integrated with LCCA, BIM provides a comprehensive economic perspective that helps stakeholders understand the long-term financial implications of design decisions. This study presents a methodology for developing a model that seamlessly integrates BIM and LCCA during the conceptual design stage of buildings. This integration allows for a comprehensive evaluation and analysis of the design process, ensuring that the development aligns with the principles of low carbon emissions by employing modular construction, 3D concrete printing methods, and different building design alternatives. The model considers the initial construction costs in addition to all the long-term operational, maintenance, and salvage values. It combines various tools and data through different modules, including energy analysis, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) to execute a comprehensive assessment of the financial implications of a specific design option throughout the lifecycle of building projects. The development of the said model and its implementation involves the creation of a new plug-in for the BIM tool (i.e., Autodesk Revit) to enhance its functionalities and capabilities in forecasting the life-cycle costs of buildings in addition to generating associated cash flows, creating scenarios, and sensitivity analyses in an automatic manner. This model empowers designers to evaluate and justify their initial investments while designing and selecting potential construction methods for buildings, and enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions by assessing different design alternatives based on long-term financial considerations during the early stages of design.

Impact of Different Parameters on Life Cycle Analysis, Embodied Energy and Environmental Emissions for Wind Turbine System

Due to the rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves and increasing concern for climate change as a result of greenhouse gas effect, every country is looking for ways to develop eco-friendly renewable energy sources. Wind energy has become a good option due to its comparative economic advantages and environment friendly aspects. But there is always an ongoing debate if wind energy is as green as it seems to appear. Wind turbines once installed do not produce any greenhouse gases during operation, but it can and may produce significant emissions during manufacture, transport, installation and disposal stages. To determine the exact amount of emissions, it is necessary to consider all the stages for a wind turbine from manufacture to disposal. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is a technique that determines the energy consumption, emission of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts of a product or system throughout the life cycle stages. The various approaches that have been used in the literature for the LCA of wind turbines have many discrepancies among the results, the main reason(s) being different investigators used different parameters and boundary conditions, and thus comparisons are difficult. In this paper, the influence of different parameters such as turbine size, technology (geared or gearbox less), recycling, medium of transport, different locations, orientation of the blade (horizontal or vertical), blade material, positioning of wind turbine (land, coastal or offshore), etc. on greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy is studied using the available data from exhaustive search of literature. This provides tools to find better solutions for power production in an environmental friendly manner by selecting a proper blade orientation technique, with suitable blade material, technology, recycling techniques and suitable location.

Comparative analysis of perpetual pavement structures based on pavement performance and life cycle cost

Pavement performance and economic efficiency are researched on the perpetual test pavement of Yijiang-Suzhou Express Highway in Jiangsu province, China. Test sections were continuously monitored. The conditions and developing laws of deflection, rutting and cracking are compared among the perpetual pavement with the rich binder layer （RBL）, the perpetual pavement without the RBL, and the conventional semi-rigid asphalt pavement in the past eight years after opening for traffic. Economical evaluation is conducted via life cycle cost analysis （LCCA）. Based on the performance comparison and LCCA analysis, sections with the RBL have good crack resistance, but they are not very satisfactory in the aspect of permanent deformation; the conventional semi-rigid asphalt pavement is the least economic one due to requiring more frequent maintenance. Research results show that the perpetual pavement without RBL is a more appropriate structure for the test site.

Importance of Life Cycle Analysis of the Printed Circuit Board Computer

It is estimated that there is a generation of 307,224 ton/year [1] of waste from electronic and electronic equipment (WEEE) in Mexico, of which 10% is recycled, 40% remains stored and 50% reaches landfills or uncontrolled dumps. In the practice, even the regulatory instruments are not consolidated and the adequate management of the use of WEEE management, so the aim of this study is an analysis of life cycle of printed circuit boards (TCI) to identify the management alternatives that represent the least impact to the environment. This assessment was carried out using software SIMAPRO to determine the environmental impact of each scenario, through the comparison of impacts and the proposed improvements to reduce it, following phases of this methodology by applying standards, ISO 14040/ISO 14044 [2], using data from the INE official reports since 2006 until 2010 which concentrate the information of the WEEE problem in Mexico. These data were pooled to carry out inventories according to the availability in the information, identifying the environmental impacts generated by processing. The conclusions of the LCA will serve to identify the stage with greater environmental impact, and thus propose ideas for improvement in order to minimize this impact.

Life cycle environmental impact assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and utilization in Northwestern Ontario,Canada

Biochar-based bioenergy production and sub- sequent land application of biochar can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by fixing atmospheric carbon into the soil for a long period of time. A thorough life cycle assessment of biochar-based bioenergy production and biochar land application in Northwestern Ontario is conducted using SimaPro Ver. 8.1. The results of energy consumption and potential environmental impact of biochar-based bioenergy production system are compared with those of conventional coal-based system. Results show that biocbar land application consumes 4847.61 MJ per tonne dry feedstock more energy than conventional system, but reduces the GHG emissions by 68.19 kg CO2e per tonne of dry feed- stock in its life cycle. Biochar land application improves ecosystem quality by 18 %, reduces climate change by 15 %, and resource use by 13 % but may adversely impact on human health by increasing disability adjusted life years by 1.7 % if biomass availability is low to medium. Replacing fossil fuel with woody biomass has a positiveimpact on the environment, as one tonne of dry biomass feedstock when converted to biochar reduces up to 38 kg CO2e with biochar land application despite using more energy. These results will help understand a comprehensive picture of the new interventions in forestry businesses, which are promoting biochar-based bioenergy production.

Life Cycle Assessment of Recycling High-Density Polyethylene Plastic Waste

Increasing production and use of various novel plastics products,a low recycling rate,and lack of effective recycling/disposal methods have resulted in an exponential growth in plastic waste accumulation in landfills and in the environment.To better understand the effects of plastic waste,Life Cycle Analysis(LCA)was done to compare the effects of various production and disposal methods.LCA shows the specific effects of the cradle-to-grave or cradle-to-cradle scenarios for landfill,incineration,and mechanical recycling.The analysis clearly indicates that increasing recycling of plastics can significantly save energy and eliminate harmful emissions of various carcinogens and GHGs into the environment.As recycling increases,the need for virgin-plastic production can be greatly reduced.Furthermore,the results of this study may help improve current mechanical recycling processes as well as potential future recycling methods,such as chemical recycling.Concerns about the current recycling/disposal methods for plastics have brought increasing attention to the waste accumulation problem.However,with the current COVID-19 pandemic,plastic accumulation is expected to increase significantly in the near future.A better understanding of the quantitative effects of the various disposal methods can help guide policies and future research toward effective solutions of the plastic waste problem.

Development of a Disaggregated Hybrid Model for Life Cycle Assessment and De-manufacturing

The de-manufacturing stage is an overlooked component of most current LCA （life cycle assessment） methodologies. Most of the current LCA techniques do not fully account for the usage of the product and end of life aspects. This paper introduces a comprehensive methodology that takes strong consideration of the inventory costs of use and end of life of the functional unit by combining manufacturing and de-manufacturing into the centerpiece of the hybrid analysis. In order to obtain this goal, a new disaggregated model was developed by enhancing current LCA hybrid methods related to life cycle inventory compilations. The new methodology is also compared to existing methodologies.

Carbon and Water Footprint Evaluation of 120Wp Rural Household Photovoltaic System: Case Study

This study uses the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to evaluate the magnitude of the environmental impact, in terms of global warming potential, and water footprint throughout the 20 years of useful life of a rural electrical energy concession comprised of 120Wp Households photovoltaic systems (HPS) in the isolated communities of San Martin, in the Peruvian Amazon region. On the other hand, due to the particular conditions of the system (installation, operation, maintenance, monthly tariff collection), it is necessary to know its real impact and sustainability;not only through the aforementioned environmental impact indicators, but also by energy intensity values required by the system throughout its life cycle. Therefore, this paper used the Cumulative energy demand (CED) method to determine the amount of energy taken from natural resources for each process involved in the LCA and calculated with this, i.e., the Energy Payback Time (EPBT) of the whole system. Likewise, the HPS has been environmentally compared to other case studies and the Peruvian Energy Mix, revealing a lower impact in the latter case and results within the range for stand-alone systems. Besides, the HPS shows a strong relation between energy production and O&M condition. Additionally, this study allows a further promotion of the use of this type of system in isolated areas, as well as the diversification of electricity generation in Peru.

A review on plasma-based CO_(2) utilization:process considerations in the development of sustainable chemical production

Plasma-based processes,particularly in carbon capture and utilization,hold great potential for addressing environmental challenges and advancing a circular carbon economy.While significant progress has been made in understanding plasma-induced reactions,plasma-catalyst interactions,and reactor development to enhance energy efficiency and conversion,there remains a notable gap in research concerning overall process development.This review emphasizes the critical need for considerations at the process level,including integration and intensification,to facilitate the industrialization of plasma technology for chemical production.Discussions centered on the development of plasma-based processes are made with a primary focus on CO_(2) conversion,offering insights to guide future work for the transition of the technology from laboratory scale to industrial applications.Identification of current research gaps,especially in upscaling and integrating plasma reactors with other process units,is the key to addressing critical issues.The review further delves into relevant research in process evaluation and assessment,providing methodological insights and highlighting key factors for comprehensive economic and sustainability analyses.Additionally,recent advancements in novel plasma systems are reviewed,presenting unique advantages and innovative concepts that could reshape the future of process development.This review provides essential information for navigating the path forward,ensuring a comprehensive understanding of challenges and opportunities in the development of plasma-based CCU process.

Substitution of Aggregates in Concrete and Mortar with Coltan Mining Waste: Mechanical, Environmental, and Economic Impact Case Study

The mining process involves drilling and excavation, resulting in the production of waste rock and tailings. The waste materials are then removed and stored in designated areas. This study aims to evaluate the mechanical strength and the environmental and economic impact of using Coltan Mining Waste (CMW) as a substitute for aggregates in concrete and mortar production. To achieve this, the CMW needs to be characterised. The Dreux Gorisse method was primarily used to produce concrete with a strength of 20 MPa at 28 days. The mortars, on the other hand, were formulated according to the NF P 18-452 standard. The environmental impact of using CMW as substitutes for natural aggregates in the production of concrete and mortar was analysed using SimaPro software. The results showed that mortars and concrete made with CMW have comparable compressive strengths to the reference mortar and concrete;reduce the negative impact on ecosystem quality, human health, resources, and climate change. It has also been shown that the substitution of aggregates by CMW reduces the cost of concrete and mortar as a function of the distance from the aggregate footprint.

Carbon emissions from buildings based on a life cycle analysis:carbon reduction measures and effects of green building standards in China

Carbon emissions from buildings account for approximately half of China’s total social carbon emissions.Focusing only on the carbon emissions of building operation tends to neglect the carbon emissions of other related parts of the building sector,thus slowing down the progress of carbon peaking in the building sector.By applying life-cycle analysis to calculate carbon emissions throughout the building’s life cycle,the performance of carbon emissions at each stage of building materials,construction,operation and end-of-life demolition can be identified,so that carbon reduction strategies in building design can be selected..This paper constructed a method for calculating the carbon emissions of green buildings in whole-building life cycle,and conducted a summary analysis of the carbon emissions of 33 projects that were awarded green building certification.The study found that the Chinese Assessment Standard for Green Buildings has a significant effect on reducing the carbon emissions of buildings in whole-building life cycle.Compared with the current average operational carbon emissions of buildings in China,the carbon intensity of green public buildings is 41.43%lower under this standard and the carbon intensity of green residential buildings is 13.99%lower.A carbon correlation analysis of the provisions of the current Chinese Assessment Standard for Green Buildings was conducted,comparing the changes in the carbon intensity of buildings before and after the revision of the standards.The study concluded that the new version of the standards has a greater impact on public buildings than residential buildings,the requirement of carbon emission reduction in the production stage of building materials is strengthened in terms of carbon emission during the whole-building life cycle.This study addresses the current problem of unclear carbon emission reduction effect of green buildings.

Economic Analysis of Energy-efficient Buildings in China

Applying energy-saving measures in residential buildings is usually constrained by the increase of initial investment. ＂However, if it is analyzed from the view of energy cost and life-cycle cost, the energy-saving benefit can offset ~he increase of initial investment. An analysis method based on life-cycle concept was developed to calcu- late the energy cost of residential building flats. Several uncertain factors were included into the model, making it more accurate to reflect practical situation. The model was solved using the software DeST and applied to one resi- dential building project in Shanghai. The case study shows that the initial investment （cost） is paid back during the operational phase through less consumption of energy. It further indicates that the investment recovery period is between 10 and 19 years which are acceptable to households and developers in China.

Sustainable Design of Turbofan Engine： A Computer-Aided Design and Finite Element Analysis

A compressive design and analysis of a turbofan engine is presented in this paper. The components of jet engine have been analyzed based on mechanical design concept. An attempt has been to select materials based on sustainability and green design considerations. The energy content （e） of the materials has been one of the parameters for material selection. The choice of material has a substantial impact on cost, manuthcturing process, and the life cycle efficiency. All components nose cone, fan blade, inlet shaft, including compressor has been solid modeled using Siemens NX 11.0 CAD software. The finite element analysis of every component was performed and found safe. A tolerance analysis was performed before assembly of the turbofan engine. A numerical analysis was completed on blade and inlet geometries to determine a more efficient turbofan engine. Thermal analysis was executed oi1 the cone and suitable corrections were made. Finally, the cost and the total energy were estimated to show how much energy is needed to manufacture a turbofan jet engine.

Development and application of a life cycle energy consumption and CO2emissions analysis model for high-speed railway transport in China

China's high-speed railway(HSR)is booming recently,the HSR's performance of energy conservation and carbon reduction has attractedmuch attention.This study developed a new life cycle model of energy consumption and greenhouse gas(GHG)emissions on China's HSR bylife cycle analysis(LCA),covering the stages of infrastructure,HSR train,and operation,based on the TLCAM(Tsinghua-LCA Model).A caseof the BeijingeShanghai HSR has been studied to show that the full life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of HSR transportationare 0.4 MJ km1per capita and 0.04 kg CO2ekm1per capita,respectively,which are far less than aviation,gasoline vehicles,diesel vehicles,electric vehicles and public vehicles.With the cleaner power structure and the progress of HSR train technology,the energy consumption andcarbon emissions of HSR in 2020 could be reduced by 20%compared to 2015.This study indicates that electricity generation mix structure andfull load rate are important factors influencing the life-cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions of HSR transportation.It is recommendedto improve the coverage of HSR network,accelerate train upgrades,improve the full load rate of HSR trains,and promote the low-carbondevelopment of electricity supply to strengthen and realize the low-carbon advantage of HSR transport mode in China.HSR transportationcan be used to achieve the low carbon transformation of China's transportation sector and improve oil supply safety situation.

Life cycle analysis of palm kernel shell gasification for supplying heat to an asphalt mixing plant

The Government of the Republic of Indonesia states that the thermal energy for hot-mixed asphalt production shall be supplied by the direct combustion of fossil fuels in the form of diesel oil,natural gas,or fuel gas from coal gasification which may generate GHG emission.Biomasses are able to substitute the fossil fuels through gasification technology.Gasification converts the biomass using limited air into gaseous fuel containing mainly CO and H_(2) that are subsequently combusted to produce heat,carbon dioxide,and water.It is obvious that the CO_(2) is then absorbed by the plants for photosynthesis,main-taining a balanced closed cycle.This study examines the level of global warming potential of this system for supplying heat based on the openLCA v1.9 software.The analysis used a gate-to-gate approach to evaluate scenarios of shell gasification to produce 1 metric tonne of hot-mixed asphalt.The scope covers raw material supply and transportation,palm kernel shell gasification,and products.The evaluation concludes that gasification could potentially reduce CO_(2) emissions.Environmental impact analysis and interpretation of the results using the openLCA database of Traci 2.1 recommend that greater CO_(2) emis-sion reduction is possible using palm kernel shell gasification,not only for supplying heat but also for electricity generation to operate all electrical equipments.

Estimating life-cycle energy payback ratio of overhead transmission line toward low carbon development

The energy conservation plays an important role for low carbon development.In order to evaluate the energy conservation in the full life-cycle,a scheme to estimate the energy consumption,or alternatively the energy pay,in constructing an overhead transmission line is proposed in this paper.The analysis of a typical projection is given for demonstration.With new additional overhead transmission lines,the energy consumption,known as the power loss in power network,is expected to be decline,which is defined in this paper as the energy payback.In order to estimate this kind of contribution,the scheme that consisted of load forecast,production simulation for generating systems,load flow simulation and power loss calculation has been proposed.Case studies,based on the IEEE 24-bus test system,are given to demonstrate the efficacy of the schemes.Moreover,several presumptive scenarios are deployed and analysed with the presented schemes for comparison.

Economic Analysis of using Above Ground Gas Storage Devices for Compressed Air Energy Storage System

Above ground gas storage devices for compressed air energy storage(CAES) have three types:air storage tanks,gas cylinders,and gas storage pipelines.A cost model of these gas storage devices is established on the basis of whole life cycle cost(LCC) analysis.The optimum parameters of the three types are determined by calculating the theoretical metallic raw material consumption of these three devices and considering the difficulties in manufacture and the influence of gas storage device number.The LCCs of the three types are comprehensively analyzed and compared.The result reveal that the cost of the gas storage pipeline type is lower than that of the other two types.This study may serve as a reference for designing large-scale CAES systems.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Two Types of Truck Bumper Produced in the Algerian Auto Industry

Currently,the reduction of weight in automotive is a very important topic to reduce the air pollution.In this context,the purpose of the present paper is to analyze a real case study through a comparison of the environmental impacts between a conventional steel bumper and a polyester prototype.In the first part of this work,a door-to-door life-cycle assessment methodology was used throughout the study of the component manufacturing phase.The SimaPro 7.1 software is used to evaluate the impacts of both bumpers on the environment and health.The second part is devoted to dust analysis from the polyester workshop.The obtained results have allowed us to show the company that its choice of steel substitution by the polyester is advantageous for certain impacts including the impact of climate change,but unfortunately there may be,given the working conditions of the polyester workshop,a transfer of impact,since we will end up with a risk of health(irritations,cancers)for the workers.LCA has proven to be a very useful tool for validating a redesigned automotive component from an environmental point of view;from this case study,several recommendations were made for the company to design environmentally friendly components,and ecodesign should be introduced into the company’s procedures.

Stainless steel and sustainability

The paper focus on the life cycle analysis of stainless steels.It describes the system boundaries and gives an evaluation of the CO_2 emissions of Stainless Steels from cradle to gate.It gives as well an evaluation of the recycling rates of stainless steels according to the market applications and an evaluation of the overall cycle of manufacturing and scraps in 2005 on a world wide basis.It concludes with a presentation of some remarkable application focusing on green energy and future growth markets.

Cost of non-renewable energy in production of wood pellets in China

Assessing the extent to which all bio-fuels that are claimed to be renewable are in fact renewable is essential because producing such renewable fuels itself requires some amount of non-renewable energy （NE） and materials. Using hybrid life cycle analysis （LCA）--from raw material collection to delivery of pellets to end users--the energy cost of wood pellet production in China was estimated at 1.35 J/J, of which only 0.09 J was derived from NE, indicating that only 0.09 J of NE is required to deliver 1 J of renewable energy into society and showing that the process is truly renewable. Most of the NE was consumed during the conversion process （46.21%） and delivery of pellets to end users （40.69%）, during which electricity and diesel are the two major forms of NE used, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that the distance over which the pellets are transported affects the cost of NE significantly. Therefore the location of the terminal market and the site where wood resources are available are crucial to saving diesel.