Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
cooling (and heating), appliances, lighting, and increasingly for televisions,
computers, and other household electronic devices. Energy consumed for heating
in homes and businesses has a large influence on the annual fluctuations in energy-
related carbon dioxide emissions. In the longer run, residential emissions are
affected by population growth, income and other factors. From 1990 to 2008,
residential sector carbon dioxide emissions grew by an average of 1.3 % per year,
U.S. population grew by an average of 1.1 % per year, per capita income (mea-
sured in constant dollars) grew by an average of 1.7 % per year, energy efficiency
improvements for homes and appliances have offset much of the growth in the
number and size of housing units. As a result, direct fuel emissions from petro-
leum, coal and natural gas consumed in the residential sector in 2008 were only
1.5 % higher than in 1990. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions account for
more than 80 % of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions (EIA report
2009
). Other
countries have similar proportions of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
Global Carbon Cycle buildings in North America contribute 37 % of total CO2
emissions, while US buildings correspond to 10 % of all global emissions. The
buildings sector of North America was responsible for annual carbon dioxide
emissions of 671 million tons of carbon in 2003, which is 37 % of total North
American carbon dioxide emissions and 10 % of global emissions. Options for
reducing the carbon dioxide emissions of new and existing buildings include
increasing the efficiency of equipment and implementing insulation and passive
design measures to provide thermal comfort and lighting with reduced energy.
Current best practices can reduce emissions from buildings by at least 60 % for
offices and 70 % for homes. Technology options could be supported by a portfolio
of policy options that take advantage of cooperative activities, avoid unduly
burdening certain sectors and are cost-effective (SOCCR
2008
). Therefore, best
practices utilisation is a key factor in productively executing a climate change
mitigation and adaptation in built environment project. The main purpose of this
paper is to present the Model and Intelligent System of Built Environment Life
Cycle Process for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation which the authors of
this paper have developed.
Sustainable material selection represents an important strategy in building
design. Current building materials selection methods fail to provide adequate
solutions for two major issues: assessment based on sustainability principles and
the process of prioritising and assigning weights to relevant assessment criteria.
Akadiri et al. (
2013
) proposes a building material selection model based on the
fuzzy extended analytical hierarchy process (FEAHP) techniques, with a view to
providing solutions for these two issues. Assessment criteria are identified based
on sustainable triple bottom line (TBL) approach and the need of building
stakeholders. A questionnaire survey of building experts is conducted to assess the
relative importance of the criteria and aggregate them into six independent
assessment factors. The FEAHP is used to prioritise and assign important
weightings for the identified criteria. A numerical example illustrating the
implementation of the model is given. The proposed model provides guidance to
building designers in selecting sustainable building materials (Akadiri et al.
2013
).
