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This article presents a methodology to forecast, the environmental and economic impacts during the building life cycle. Residential buildings in Andalusia are studied during their useful life, from conception to demolition. To this end, the indicators of the footprint family, carbon, water, and ecological footprints, and that of embodied energy have been adapted for the evaluation of each phase of the cycle: transformation of land use (urbanisation), construction, maintenance, and finally, demolition. The maintenance frequency and life expectancy of the construction elements are defined, as are the monetary and environmental updates. The budgets and the construction cost databases of each project taking place during the useful life are used for the resource inventories. The methodology enables the sources of greatest impact in each phase to be located, thereby facilitating the evaluation of the future effects of the design. Of the total impacts, 60% are incurred during the construction/renovation work and 40% during direct use, which indicates that efforts should not only be focused on the energy efficiency during use, but also during the manufacturing and commissioning of construction materials.

In Spain, most businesses are medium to small size enterprises, representing 90% of the total, but there is a lack of studies of the types of building this sector uses. The main objective of this paper is to present a method for the evaluation of small industrial construction projects to facilitate the introduction of eco-efficient solutions. For this, it is necessary to identify the most representative buildings and the aspects of these which have the most environmental impact. A methodology in place for the evaluation of dwelling construction is adapted, for the first time, to evaluate industrial buildings. The construction solutions characterized are those traditionally used in the sector, as identified through 87 surveys. A standardized classification of work units is proposed to enable the use of environmental product information, such as eco-labels and/or EPD, and LCA databases. The carbon footprint (CF) and water footprint (WF) are the indicators selected because of their straightforward message. Finally, a comparative analysis is performed showing the high recycling potential of concrete and cement which, along with metals and aggregates, control the impact in terms of CF. With respect to the WF indicator, plastic substitute aggregates are among the materials with the greatest impact. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In Spain, 90% of companies are small- or medium-sized and are usually located in industrial areas, in warehouses with particular characteristics. This paper presents a methodology for the environmental assessment of this type of construction with water and carbon footprint indicators. A database was developed for the identification of typologies and common construction elements based on a sample of 87 projects in the province of Seville. Based on this, the paper proposes a methodology for comparative analysis that merges the data obtained from the research survey with environmental and economic data. The work proposes a systematic classification of the construction units of industrial buildings in order to improve the sustainability of the decision-making process by introducing environmental information on construction materials and machinery. First, the most impactful elements were identified, and then the technical solutions were adjusted using solutions already in the sample of 87 industrial projects. Reductions of up to 74% in the carbon footprint and 54% of the water footprint were found, as well as 14% reduction in construction costs in the most favorable case. © 2022 by the authors.

Resumen Este trabajo puso en relieve una experiencia pionera en Chile en lo que se refiere a la gestión de los residuos de construcción y demolición (RCD). El caso estudiado corresponde a la construcción de 17 viviendas unifamiliares ubicadas en un condominio habitacional en la ciudad de Temuco, Región de la Araucanía. Para su implementación se aplicó una metodología basada en un modelo de gestión de residuos desarrollado en España para estimar los RCD. Con la adopción de esta metodología de separación en obra de los residuos, los costos materiales se redujeron a la mitad; también se redujo el costo medioambiental de las obras en construcción. Con ello se ha comprobado que es viable la adaptación de la metodología española a un proyecto de urbanización chileno. Además, la aplicación de esta metodología genera un triple beneficio que repercute en lo ambiental, lo social y lo económico. Al mismo tiempo, se ha comprobado que la reutilización, reciclaje, tratamiento o eliminación de los residuos genera nuevos desafíos en el plano legislativo y de gestión de gobierno, elementos a considerar si Chile aspira a alcanzar estándares de países como Brasil o los de la Comunidad Europea en lo que respecta a la gestión de RCD.

The building sector is one of the major consumers of water resources, according to the United Nations Environmental Program, buildings and their associated industry consume 30% of the fresh water available worldwide. Optimizing this resource usage is a key factor and makes it necessary to analyze it with environmental and economic indicators, so that the magnitude of the impact can be qualified and quantified, and covering all the building life cycle. The analysis includes the first stage, the project conception, follows with the assessment of raw materials and its manufacture, continues with the use and maintenance, and finalizes with the demolition of the building. The water consumed in all those processes or Virtual Water (VW) can be the key to the reduction of the built environment impact. Because the total water consumption of a building includes not only the water that has been required off-site to manufacture the materials used, as well as the water embodied in the production of energy, also the direct water used in the building needs to be studied. This together can be considered the building water footprint (WF). A methodology based on the quantity surveying of the building project which includes materials and machinery is used for the inventory. The WF quantification is treated similarly to a project budget. A case study of a residential building in Huelva, Spain is evaluated. The most impacting stage is the use followed by the construction, being other stages less significant.

Urbanization projects, understood as those supplying basic services for cities, such as drinking water, sewers, communication services, power, and lighting, are normally short-term extremely scattered actions, and it can be difficult to track their environmental impact. The present article's main contribution is to employ the project budgets of public urbanization work to provide an instrument for environmental improvement, thereby helping public procurement, including sustainability criteria. Two urban projects in Seville, Spain are studied: the first substitutes existing services, and the second also includes gardens and playgrounds in the street margins. The methodology finds the construction elements that must be controlled in each project from the perspective of three indicators: carbon, water footprints, and embodied energy. The main impacts found are due to only four construction units: concrete, aggregates, asphalt, and ceramic pipes for the sewer system, that represent 70% or more of the total impact in all indicators studied. The public developer can focus procurement on those few elements in order to exert a lower impact and to significantly reduce the environmental burden of urbanization projects. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In recent years, construction and use of buildings in Spain accounted for more than 40% of energy consumption, 36% of CO2 emissions, 50% of material extractions from the earth’s crust and 25% of the solid waste generated. Optimizing the resource requirement in existing buildings is a key step in the task of reaching the community targets for 2030: 27% improvement in energy efficiency and 40% of reduction of greenhouse gases. For this, it is necessary to analyse them through environmental and economic indicators, so that the magnitude of the impacts can be qualified and quantified from the Building Life Cycle (BLC), from its conception, through the extraction of raw materials, for the manufacture of the materials, until the demolition of the building. The paper focuses on the study of residential buildings in Andalusia, covering its entire useful life, from its conception until the time of its demolition or end of life. As a case study, the Ecological Footprint (EF) indicator is applied to a residential project, to calculate the impacts during the BLC.

The present work analyses the management of construction and demolition waste (CD two are industrial and three residential. The quantities, budget, and ecological footprint (EF) are determined. The EF evaluation follows the same methodology as defined by the authors for construction projects but with several new incorporations, such as the quantification for the felling of trees and the machinery footprint. The result shows that 98% of the C&DW generated is due to earthworks and tree felling. An overwhelming 97% of the EF is due to fuel consumption by on-site machinery and construction materials. Finally, a new scenario is proposed in which the soil is 100% reused and the inert waste is crushed and used as concrete aggregate, which reduces the EF by more than 20% in all cases analysed. The results show that it is possible to quantify the integral impact within construction projects of the application of recycling and of reuse strategies by means of a WBS. Finally, from a construction project perspective, the traditional model for waste management and economic control can be completed with an environmental analysis using the EF indicator.

Predicting the environmental impact of buildings from early stages of design becomes essential for improving their sustainability during the entire life cycle. Carbon footprint allows to determine the emissions of greenhouse gases derived from the building process from cradle to grave. In this chapter, the experience of the authors in carbon footprint calculation methodologies is presented through an open-source software tool for estimating the environmental impact of architectural projects from the design phase, as a product from the OERCO2 Erasmus + project. With a newly renovated interface, the internal functioning of this tool is comprehensively explained, presenting and analyzing the results obtained for representative building typologies. This tool aims to allow users to detect opportunities of improvement, environmental and economic, of their projects through modifications such as the selection of different materials or constructive solutions. Subsequently, the authors carry out an analysis of its flaws and forthcoming necessary upgrades to make this software tool more accessible to non-specialized users, thus easing the spread of knowledge on carbon footprint and the environmental impact of buildings. © 2020, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

This chapter analyzes the environmental impact of construction and demolition waste on urbanization projects. A model for waste quantification, previously defined by the authors, is adapted for the assessment of urbanization work. Three urbanization projects have been evaluated from a dual perspective: both environmental and economic. The results show that it is possible to quantify the integral impact within construction projects of the application of a work breakdown system of construction. An economic and environmental analysis using the carbon footprint indicator is also added through traditional model for quantification and management of construction and demolition waste.

The paper evaluates for the first time the embodied impact in CDW during the buildings life cycle by means of the bill of quantities of construction projects. The main objective is to be able to predict the future CDW to be generated by a project in the design stage, by means of the bill of quantities of the urbanization, construction, renovation, rehabilitation and demolition projects. The tools already in place for cost control can be used as an instrument for the introduction of sustainability considerations in construction projects. The methodology proposes a connection between the different stages of a building's life cycle, more precisely its budget. The latter is linked to other future budgets for building renovations or retrofitting projects. The result shows that urbanization and demolition generate 90% of CDW, the former is caused by earthworks and the latter is due to the elimination of all building materials. The building is removed 1.3 times, in terms of material weight, energy and water. Finally, traditional models for economic control and waste management in construction projects can be the vector which introduce environmental assessment through the building life cycle. © 2019

espanolEl objetivo de esta investigacion es desarrollar una metodologia que permita cuantificar los recursos y su impacto en las rehabilitaciones energeticas de edificios, especificamente en los huecos de fachada, asi como los recursos asociados a las respectivas actividades de mantenimiento en el Ciclo de Vida del Edificio (CVE). Se busca conseguir una evaluacion objetiva que ayude en la toma de decisiones, para minimizar el consumo de recursos naturales asi como su impacto medioambiental. El modelo de evaluacion, adaptado la metodologia del grupo de investigacion ARDITEC de la Universidad de Sevilla, en colaboracion con el Instituto Superior Tecnico de la Universidade de Lisboa, se aplica a proyectos en Portugal. El modelo tiene una estructura presupuestaria donde a cada recurso se le asignan coeficientes para el calculo de su energia incorporada de fabricacion ademas de la empleada en su puesta en obra. Se presenta el estudio de dos casos practicos ubicados en Lisboa, ambos albergan oficinas, con un alto porcentaje de superficie vidriada en fachadas. El trabajo muestra los resultados comparando la colocacion de peliculas solar de control solar frente a la sustitucion de las ventanas, llegando a un ahorro del 70% de las emisiones producidas en las renovaciones resueltas con peliculas. EnglishThe objective of this paper is the environmental evaluation of two possible constructive solutions that improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings: replacement of the complete window with a new more efficient one or the use of solar control sheets attached to the current glass. A quantitative evaluation is proposed to help in the decision making to minimize the consumption of natural resources, energy incorporated in the materials, as well as its environmental impact, equivalent CO2 emissions. As an evaluation model, the methodology of the ARDITEC research group of the University of Seville has been adapted, in collaboration with the Higher Technical Institute of the University of Lisbon, applying to real projects in Portugal. The model has a budget structure where each resource is assigned coefficients for the calculation of its incorporated energy and carbon footprint, in its manufacture and commissioning. The study of two office buildings is presented, with a high percentage of glazed surface in facades. The results obtained show 70% lower emissions if the windows with attached films are improved compared to the complete replacement of the window

Existing tools for environmental certification of buildings are failing in their ability to reach the general public and to create social awareness, since they require not only specialized knowledge regarding construction and energy sources, but also environmental knowledge. In this paper, an open-source online tool for the estimation of the carbon footprint of residential buildings by non-specialized users is presented as a product from the OERCO2 Erasmus + project. The internal calculations, data management and operation of this tool are extensively explained. The ten most common building typologies built in the last decade in Spain are analysed by using the OERCO2 tool, and the order of magnitude of the results is analysed by comparing them to the ranges determined by other authors. The OERCO2 tool proves itself to be reliable, with its results falling within the defined logical value ranges. Moreover, the major simplification of the interface allows non-specialized users to evaluate the sustainability of buildings. Further research is oriented towards its inclusion in other environmental certification tools and in Building Information Modeling (BIM) environments.