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This work aims to apply parametric design to minimize the embodied greenhouse gas emissions and operational energy in a zero emission building in Oslo, Norway. An original generative workflow based on parametric design was developed in the Grasshopper environment to conduct energy analyses, such as solar radiation and daylighting, and environmental impact analysis, to evaluate the embodied and operational greenhouse gas emissions of the building. The workflow was generated to control parametrically several building features while varying the building shape, the dimensions of construction components, and the quantity of materials. The process leads to the generation of shapes with the least environmental impact. The workflow allows the modification of the initial shape of the Base Case by running iterative simulations through the Galapagos and Octopus evolutionary solvers. For each stage of the shape's optimization, through passive and active strategies, the embodied emissions and energy balances were estimated to evaluate how the building design varies in terms of energy and environmental impact, and to identify the implications for the design. This paper shows how design options with low levels of embodied emissions can be generated and optimized automatically, and also demonstrates how a parametric design approach provides the designer with suggestions of low-impact solutions, which can then be integrated and considered early in, and throughout, the design process in a holistic manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in global warming, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions has gained attention in various regions. In Malaysia, the government announced a voluntary commitment to reduce 40% of CO 2 emissions by 2020 and to refurbish 100 government buildings. Existing buildings make a large contribution to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, therefore refurbishing existing buildings is an essential strategy to achieve the commitment. There is no single assessment scheme for building refurbishment in Malaysia and hence, this study aims to develop a comprehensive list of assessment themes and sub-themes for building refurbishment purposes. It examines and compares 10 assessment schemes from various countries: BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, BEAM Plus, GBLS, Green Star, HQE, Green Mark, GBI and MyCrest. The findings revealed fourteen themes that were considered for assessment: management , sustainable site , transport , indoor environmental quality ( IEQ ), water , waste , material , energy , pollution , innovation , economic , social , culture and quality of services . Energy and IEQ are dominant themes in all assessment schemes. Most of the schemes are considered relatively weak in evaluating economic and social aspects, in comparison to environmental aspects. The assessment of quality of services is overlooked in most of the schemes, including GBI and MyCrest in Malaysia. Outcomes from this paper will form the baseline for a new environmental assessment scheme that aimed at non-domestic building refurbishments in Malaysia. A new model is proposed for the development of an environmental assessment scheme in the further stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant research has investigated environmental impacts from the built environment. However, current assessments tend to focus on one of two scales: the individual building or the larger urban context. Consequently, environmental impacts resulting from the interactions between individual buildings and their surround urban setting, termed induced impacts, are not presently captured. As the typical scale of construction is individual buildings within existing cities, determining induced impacts is central for achieving environmental goals. This paper conducts a streamlined life-cycle assessment to determine induced impacts using actual buildings, infrastructure, and travel data for the urban region of Munich. One building type is examined for each location. The results show that the city center has the lowest environmental impacts followed by the city periphery and then the outside districts. The work finds that transportation emissions make up 51, 50, and 47% of all emissions for households in the city center, city periphery, and outside districts, respectively. Household emissions include building embodied, building operational, transportation embodied, and transportation operational emissions. Induced impacts make up 50% of total impacts. The results show that embodied impacts, accounting for building materials, vehicles, and infrastructure, constitute over 20% of all impacts. The detailed analysis of the impact groups for each location reveals that different strategies should be applied to each location. The work illustrates the importance of expanding the environmental analysis framework of the building sector though the inclusion of induced impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a review on three streams of life cycle studies that have been frequently applied to evaluate the environmental impacts of building construction with a major focus on whether they can be used for decision making. The three streams are Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Energy Assessment (LCEA) and Life Cycle Carbon Emissions Assessment (LCCO 2 A). They were compared against their evaluation objectives, methodologies, and findings. Although they share similar objectives in evaluating the environmental impacts over the life cycle of building construction, they show some differences in the major focuses of evaluation and methodologies employed. Generally, it has been revealed that quite consistent results can be derived from the three streams with regard to the relative contribution of different phases of life cycle. However, discrepancies occur among the findings obtained from the three streams when different compositions of fuel mixes are used in power generation, or when the overall impacts are not contributed mostly by greenhouse gases emissions. The use of different functional units in different studies also makes it difficult to compare results with benchmarks or results from previous studies. Besides, there are drawbacks in boundary scoping, methodology framework, data inventory and practices which impair their usefulness as a decision making support tool for sustainable building designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]