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Current regulations to reduce energy consumption, and GHG emissions from buildings have focused on reducing operational impacts [1] This paper addresses the specific challenge of increasing complexity and decreasing usability when dealing with the level of detail required when modelling life cycle assessment (LCA) and integrating embodied emission calculations in the design process of a ZEB. It is well known that architectural design processes inherently have high degrees of complexity, and this paper investigates how the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the design process can have a great impact on reducing GHG emissions and increasing sustainability in ZEBs. Visualisation is an invaluable tool to communicate complex data in an interactive way that makes it easier for non-expert users to integrate LCA thinking early and throughout the design process. The paper presents a chronology in the development of a more visual, integrated and dynamic approach involving the use of parametric LCA models for decision-support purposes. Such an approach provides the designer with a direct link between the 3D digital model and embodied emissions data contained in the ZEB Tool to perform life cycle GHG emission calculations of buildings. Integrating LCA in a more visual and easily understood way in the holistic design process can also influence more tangible material choices in terms of, for example, architectural tectonics or cultural heritage. This allows designers the possibility to choose, for example, durable or natural materials with the lowest environmental impact or innovative materials with high or low associated emissions and consider these holistically early in the design phase when the level of design freedom is greater. The extent to which existing ICT tools and User Interfaces (UI), such as dashboards, can provide dynamic visual feedback on selected parameters, including LCA, in the design process of zero emission buildings, is discussed. The paper presents two ‘proof of concept’ dashboards to visualise LCAs at the building (ZEB) and neighbourhood (ZEN) scale. Both approaches are currently being further developed in The ZEN research centre to visualise, analyse and model the data at different scales for different ZEN Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) using visualisation and immersive technologies, such as Extended Reality (XR) technologies including Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). more...

A major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions is the production of concrete and steel for the construction industry IPCC (2007). To combat global warming, innovative solutions are needed in the construction industry to reduce emissions from both energy and material use in buildings. In a previous study the first phase of a GHG emissions analysis for a Norwegian ZEB office concept was presented. The aim of which was to achieve a zero emission balance where operational and material emissions are accounted for ZEB OM. The results from the first phase showed that the load bearing system accounted for a large share of the embodied emissions. In addition, the ZEB OM ambition level was not met, thus emphasizing the need for further work on alternative solutions and material choices. This paper presents the results of a comparative study between this original office concept study and a predominantly wooden alternative loadbearing structure consisting of wood trusses, glue laminated beams and columns. The wooden alternative is comparable since it has been dimensioned to fulfil the same technical requirements for bearing capacity, sound and fire resistance. In addition, the system boundary was extended to include three alternative end-of-life scenarios. It was found that the wooden alternative structure almost halved the emissions compared to the original concrete and steel ZEB office concept model. This trend is the same in the cradle to gate and all three end-of life scenario’s. The analysis clearly shows that emissions from the production process outweigh any emissions from the material’ s end-of-life treatment. This means that the material choice plays a major role in embodied emissions, as well as it being crucial to reduce the required construction material quantity. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 2.5 CH more...

A major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions is the production of concrete and steel for the construction industry. This report presents a comparison of the life cycle GHG impact of a concrete and steel load-bearing structure with a wood load-bearing alternative. The basis for the comparison is a theoretical ZEB office concept of a four story Norwegian office building. The wooden structure causes approximately half the emissions of the concrete and steel structure. The results show that end-of-life emissions account for less than 10% of the overall GHG emissions from the load-bearing systems life cycle. more...