Comparing construction technologies of single family housing with regard of minimizing embodied energy and embodied carbon

¹ Faculty of Civil Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
² Faculty of Architecture, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

^* Corresponding author: a.weglarz@il.pw.edu.pl

Abstract

This article concerns the Life Cycle Assessment method of evaluation and the ways in which it can be applied as a tool facilitating the design of buildings to reduce embodied energy and embodied carbon. Three variants of a building were examined with the same functional ground plan and usable floor area of 142.6 m². Each variant of the building was designed using different construction technologies: bricklaying technology utilizing autoclaved aerated concrete popular in Poland, wooden frame insulated with mineral wool, and the Straw-bale technology. Using digital models (Building Information Model) the building’s energy characteristics was simulated and the embodied energy and embodied carbon of the production stage (also called cradle-to-gate) were calculated. The performed calculations were used to compare the cumulative energy and embodied carbon of each variant for a 40 year long life cycle.