are your construction projects costing the earth? james fiske
TRANSCRIPT
Are your construction projects costing the Earth?
James Fiske
Why reduce carbon in construction?
Min 80% reduction of GHG emissions by 2050 (34% 2020)
CRC energy efficiency scheme – the first carbon tax
Zero carbon buildings by 2019 (homes by 2016)
Whole-life carbon appraisals set to be in the Green Book
CEN 350 including EPDs
In the UK…
In Hong Kong….
45% carbon intensity reduction
Admin building of 765m2 emits over 1,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide in a 30 year life
In addition, 675 tonnes are embodied from its original construction, and 165 tonnes from maintenance and replacement of its components
Why reduce carbon in construction?
How do you measure carbon?
Operational ‘direct’ and embodied ‘indirect’
Operational is calculated by the amount of energy used
Embodied is a little harder:
Quantify the materials
Quantify the weights
Emission data available from the likes of Bath University
Plant
Transportation
Labour
Environmental
Soci
al
EconomicThis is increasingly required at a time when we need to be saving money, not spending more of it
Currently three different teams measure carbon, cost and social impacts
Inefficient
Inconsistent
Expensive!!
The problem
How do we do it?
We link carbon estimating into the cost estimating process
To do this you need to do some conversions:
Carbon calculated by material types and respective weights
Costs measured by product
Published results
How do we do it - CapIT
CapIT is an on-line Capital cost and CO2 estimating system
Available to the industry
Includes data from price books
Allows users to view and change build-ups from library
Allows users to add their own data
Launched jointly with the Institution of Civil Engineers
But what about the future?
What you construct now you will be subjected to
Focusing on just the initial is short-sighted (1:5:200)
Save over 35% of the life-time costs and carbon
Increasing costs, energy prices, availability of resources
By looking over the life you begin to consider ‘maintainability’
Understand what you need and when you need it by
Understand waste and plan reuse
The Problem
Confusion on terminologies (LCC, WLC, TLC etc)
Inconsistent methodologies
Lack of robust data
CO2 calculations are conducted independently
What is the difference between LCC and WLC?
• A) They are the same
• B) LCC includes maintenance, WLC includes operational
• C) LCC is for a component, WLC is for the whole project
• D) WLC additionally quantifies recycling at end of life
• E) None of the above
The Problem
Answer(Defined by BS ISO 15686-5)
Whole Life Cost (WLC)
Non-Construction Costs
Life Cycle Cost(LCC)
Income Externalities
Construction End of LifeOccupancyOperationMaintenance
How do we do it
Initial Cost
Life Cycle Cost
Capital
Energy InspectionsCleaning
RedecorationsOccupancy
Asset Replacement Reactive maintenance
Planned maintenance
• Internet-based system and database
• Capital cost and life cycle cost
• Embodied and operational CO2
• Can calculate more measures when data is available
• Models activities of maintenance at detailed levels to improve accuracy and auditability
• Plots the impact of transport
• Quickly identifies cost and carbon impacts for design changes
How do we do it - LifeCYCLE
View the many reports available for cost, carbon, resource requirements and waste
How do we do it – LifeCYCLE
Case Study
LifeCYCLE used on many projects
New Build: School
Over 35% cost and carbon reductions
Existing: University of Glasgow
Over £10m of savings identified in just a 20 year period
Saving 350,000 tonnes of CO2
Summary
Your construction projects are probably costing the earth
You can minimise this impact by looking over the life
You can save money by picking better specifications
You can design projects to be more maintainable
You can understand what you need and when by
You can minimise waste
You can do it all at the same time!
www.eru.mottmac.com
Thank you for your time