Methods for calculating building-embodied carbon emissions for the whole design process

Abstract

Energy conservation and emissions reduction in the construction industry are important steps in achieving China's goals of peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The premise for building carbon emission (CE) reduction is to produce accurate CE calculations. Existing calculation methods for building CEs have many problems, such as complicated calculations, large data demands, time-consuming and laborious processes, weak design orientation of results, and poor feedback on emission reduction. At the same time, the calculation of CEs during the process of architectural design faces obstacles such as uncertainty of information, incomplete data, and difficulty in obtaining a bill of quantities based on design information. To resolve these obstacles, this study, based on a designer's vocabulary and thinking mode, describes the construction of a “design-oriented” calculation methods for building-embodied carbon emissions (ECEs). The prediction and assessment of the impact on the building environment during the architectural design process were helpful for identifying the key areas for carbon reduction, exploring potential emission reduction hotspots, and providing timely feedback for design optimization, which can have important theoretical value and practical significance in promoting the construction of low-carbon buildings.