Carbon-footprint-based optimization for building life-cycle total cost analysis - A case study on MEGA house

Abstract

The carbon pricing policies adopted by many governments worldwide to combat climate change are driving businesses to overhaul their operations to reduce emissions and mitigate financial impacts. Effectively addressing the substantial carbon footprint of the construction sector requires an understanding of its lifecycle emissions and a transition toward sustainable materials within a circular economy framework. Open building, rooted in the “Cradle to Cradle” (C2C) concept, emphasizes reusable and regenerative qualities that allow for material recovery, reuse, and recycling to enhance waste reduction and material sustainability. MEGA House is an Open Building project developed as a collaborative research project between the Architecture and Building Research Institute (ABRI) and Taiwan Tech. In this research, MEGA House is used as a case study to explore the effectiveness and feasibility of a novel optimized Building Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis model that incorporates the consideration of carbon footprint costs. Carbon fee systems affect building design and construction choices in terms of construction, carbon footprint, and waste disposal-related costs. Using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Symbiotic Organisms Search 2.0 (SOS 2.0), this research categorizes materials into reuse, recycle, or waste categories and seeks the most cost-effective combinations to minimize the total LCC of a project across construction, carbon footprint, and waste disposal expenditures.