Tall buildings are always regarded as voracious energy consumers. This is true indeed, though important progresses have been achieved in the past 20 years. Innovative materials and upgraded technical solutions have reduced the running energy consumption of buildings consistently. On the other hand, little has been done to lower their embodied energy, that is the amount of energy required to produce and use the building materials the skyscraper is made of. Eventually, we can speculate that the embodied energy of tall buildings is even increased over the past few decades, as a consequence of the augmented complexity of structures and the multiplication of some parts of the buildings (double skin facades, extra insulation, etc.). This limits or even cancels the positive effects of some of the measures aimed at reducing the energy efficiency of tall buildings, worsening their Life Cycle Energy sustainability. Indeed, it is difficult to verify the real efficacy of energy saving measures, because LCA analysis are difficult and time consuming. Also, they are not applicable to projects at the design stage and they can only be performed on completed structures. This paper presents an alternative methodology for embodied energy quantification based on econometric procedures. As such, this methodology is easily applicable from the very early stages of design, thus allowing the quick assessment of design alternatives.
The LCA of Tall Buildings: a Quick Pre-Design Assessment Tool
TRABUCCO, DARIO
2011-01-01
Abstract
Tall buildings are always regarded as voracious energy consumers. This is true indeed, though important progresses have been achieved in the past 20 years. Innovative materials and upgraded technical solutions have reduced the running energy consumption of buildings consistently. On the other hand, little has been done to lower their embodied energy, that is the amount of energy required to produce and use the building materials the skyscraper is made of. Eventually, we can speculate that the embodied energy of tall buildings is even increased over the past few decades, as a consequence of the augmented complexity of structures and the multiplication of some parts of the buildings (double skin facades, extra insulation, etc.). This limits or even cancels the positive effects of some of the measures aimed at reducing the energy efficiency of tall buildings, worsening their Life Cycle Energy sustainability. Indeed, it is difficult to verify the real efficacy of energy saving measures, because LCA analysis are difficult and time consuming. Also, they are not applicable to projects at the design stage and they can only be performed on completed structures. This paper presents an alternative methodology for embodied energy quantification based on econometric procedures. As such, this methodology is easily applicable from the very early stages of design, thus allowing the quick assessment of design alternatives.
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