A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment

Low-carbon building design requests an estimation of total embodied carbon as the environmental performance metric for comparison of different design options in early design stages. Due to a lack of consensus on the system boundaries in building life cycle assessment (LCA), the carbon estimation res...

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Main Authors: Chen, Chen, Zhao, Zengfeng, Xiao, Jianzhuang, Tiong, Robert
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163388
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1633882022-12-05T06:38:43Z A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment Chen, Chen Zhao, Zengfeng Xiao, Jianzhuang Tiong, Robert School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Engineering::Civil engineering Embodied Carbon Early Building Design Low-carbon building design requests an estimation of total embodied carbon as the environmental performance metric for comparison of different design options in early design stages. Due to a lack of consensus on the system boundaries in building life cycle assessment (LCA), the carbon estimation results obtained by the current methods are often disputable. In this regard, this paper proposes a method for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and LCA. The proposed method is advantageous over others by providing (1) a cradle-to-cradle LCA and (2) an automated data communication between LCA and building information modelling (BIM) databases. Because data for the processes in the life cycle are collected via digital twin technology in a standard and consistent way, the obtained results will be considered credible. So far, a conceptual framework is developed based on a comprehensive literature review, which consists of three parts. In the first part, formulas for LCA are given. In the second part, a hybrid approach combining semantic web with a relational database for BIM and radio-frequency identification (RFID) integration is described. In the third part, how to design the LCA database and how to link LCA with BIM are described. The conceptual framework proposed is tested for its reasonableness by a small hypothetical case study. Published version This research was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, funding numbers: 22120210372 and 22120210317 (Tongji University). The authors would like to acknowledge Tongji University for the support from young scholar research funding. 2022-12-05T06:38:43Z 2022-12-05T06:38:43Z 2021 Journal Article Chen, C., Zhao, Z., Xiao, J. & Tiong, R. (2021). A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment. Sustainability, 13(24), 13875-. https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su132413875 2071-1050 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163388 10.3390/su132413875 2-s2.0-85121528555 24 13 13875 en Sustainability © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Civil engineering
Embodied Carbon
Early Building Design
spellingShingle Engineering::Civil engineering
Embodied Carbon
Early Building Design
Chen, Chen
Zhao, Zengfeng
Xiao, Jianzhuang
Tiong, Robert
A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
description Low-carbon building design requests an estimation of total embodied carbon as the environmental performance metric for comparison of different design options in early design stages. Due to a lack of consensus on the system boundaries in building life cycle assessment (LCA), the carbon estimation results obtained by the current methods are often disputable. In this regard, this paper proposes a method for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and LCA. The proposed method is advantageous over others by providing (1) a cradle-to-cradle LCA and (2) an automated data communication between LCA and building information modelling (BIM) databases. Because data for the processes in the life cycle are collected via digital twin technology in a standard and consistent way, the obtained results will be considered credible. So far, a conceptual framework is developed based on a comprehensive literature review, which consists of three parts. In the first part, formulas for LCA are given. In the second part, a hybrid approach combining semantic web with a relational database for BIM and radio-frequency identification (RFID) integration is described. In the third part, how to design the LCA database and how to link LCA with BIM are described. The conceptual framework proposed is tested for its reasonableness by a small hypothetical case study.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Chen, Chen
Zhao, Zengfeng
Xiao, Jianzhuang
Tiong, Robert
format Article
author Chen, Chen
Zhao, Zengfeng
Xiao, Jianzhuang
Tiong, Robert
author_sort Chen, Chen
title A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
title_short A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
title_full A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
title_fullStr A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
title_full_unstemmed A conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
title_sort conceptual framework for estimating building embodied carbon based on digital twin technology and life cycle assessment
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163388
_version_ 1751548573752754176