Abstract
This study, with the life-cycle approach, examines the carbon footprint of a residential tower in the Tehran Metropolitan City in the construction phase. This paper assessed all sources of carbon emissions in the construction phase, including emissions from manufacturing and extraction of building materials, transportation of building materials, construction equipment, vegetation cover around the building, and transportation of construction waste. According to the results, the highest amounts of carbon footprint were estimated at 83% and 14%, which were, respectively, related to the emissions from transportation of materials and construction wastes. The emissions from the construction phase accounted for the 3% of the total footprints. Also in the manufacturing process of building materials, the highest contributions in CO2 emissions were 78%, 10%, and 6%, belonging to concrete, rebar, and cement mortar, respectively. The results of this study can be used as a criterion for comparing and assessing the preventative measures to reduce and manage CO2 emissions in the construction of similar buildings. The approaches that exist for reducing CO2 emissions in construction include management of amount of waste generated and choosing the types of environmentally friendly building materials and providing materials from factories near the site.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Biswas WK (2014) Carbon footprint and embodied energy consumption assessment of building construction works in Western Australia. Int J Sustain Built Environ 3:179–186
Cho S, Chae C (2016) A study on life cycle CO2 emissions of low-carbon building in South Korea. Sustainability 8:579
El-Haggar SM (2007) Sustainable industrial design and waste management: cradle-to-cradle for sustainable development. Elsevier Academic Press, Cambridge; 261–291
Guo H, Liu Y, Meng Y, Huang H, Sun C, Shao Y (2017) A comparison of the energy saving and carbon reduction performance between reinforced concrete and cross-laminated timber structures in residential buildings in the severe cold region of China. Sustainability 9:1426. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081426
Hong J, Shen GQ, Feng Y, Lau W, Mao C (2015) Greenhouse gas emissions during the construction phase of a building: a case study in China. Clean Prod 103:249–259
Hossain M, Poon CS (2018) Global warming potential and energy consumption of temporary works in building construction: a case study in Hong Kong. Build Environ 142:171–179
https://www.amar.org.ir/. Accessed 07 May 2019
https://www.amar.org.ir/. Accessed 07 May 2019
Huang W, Li F, Cui SH, Huang L, Lin J (2017) Carbon footprint and carbon emission reduction of urban buildings: a case in Xiamen City, China. Procedia Eng 198:1007–1017
IPCC (2006) Climate change (2006) guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories
IPCC (2014) Climate change (2014) synthesis report. Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC), Geneva, Switzerland
ISO 21931-1 (2010) Sustainability in building construction—framework for methods of assessment of the environmental performance of construction works—part 1: buildings. The International Organisation for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland
Jaques R, Sheriden A (2006) Study report towards carbon-neutral and climate adapted domestic buildings background document, p 150
Kim S, Moon J, Shin Y, Kim G, Seo D (2013) Life comparative analysis of energy consumption and CO2 emissions of different building structural frame types. Sci World J 2013:175702
Lee J, Tae S, Kim R (2018) A study on the analysis of CO2 emissions of apartment housing in the construction process. Sustainability 10:365. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10020365
Li D, Chen H, Hui E, Zhang J, Li Q (2013) A methodology for estimating the life-cycle carbon efficiency of a residential building. Build Environ 59:448–455
Li Y, Han M, Liu S, Chen G (2019) Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by buildings: a multi-scale perspective. Build Environ 151:240–250
Monahan J, Powell J (2011) An embodied carbon and energy analysis of modern methods of construction in housing: a case study using a lifecycle assessment framework. Energy Build 43:179–188
Ng ST, To C (2015) Unveiling the embodied carbon of construction materials through a product-based carbon labeling scheme. Int J Clim Change Impacts Responses 7:1–9
Padilla-Rivera A, Amor B, Blanchet P (2018) Evaluating the link between low carbon reductions strategies and its performance in the context of climate change: a carbon footprint of a wood-frame residential building in Quebec, Canada. Sustainability 10(8):2715. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082715
Rebitzer G, Ekvall T, Frischknecht R, Hunkeler D, Norris G, Rydberg T, Schmidt W, Suh S, Weidema BP, Pennington D (2004) Life cycle assessment part 1: frame work, goal and scope definition inventory analysis and applications. Environ Int 30:701–720
Syngros G, Balaras C, Koubogiannis D (2017) Embodied CO2 emissions in building construction materials of hellenic dwellings. Procedia Environ Sci 38:500–508
Thongkamsuk P, Sudasna K, Tondee T (2017) Waste generated in high-rise buildings construction: a current situation in Thailand. J Energy Procedia 138:411–416
UNEP (2014) Sustainable building and climate change initiative. United Nations Environment Programme. http://www.unep.org/sbci/AboutSBCI/Background. Accessed 2 Jan 2014
Wang T, Seo S, Liao P, Fang D (2016) GHG emission reduction performance of state-of-the-art green buildings: review of two case studies. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 56:484–493
Wiedmann T, Minx J (2008) A definition of ‘carbon footprint’. In: Pertsova CC (ed) Ecological economics research trends. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge
WRI/WBCSD (2010) The greenhouse gas protocol: a corporate accounting and reporting standard, revised edition. World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Washington, DC, USA
Xiaodong L, Fan Y, Yuanxue G (2014) Case study of carbon footprint of residential building construction. Mater Res Innov 18:72–76
Yan Y (2011) Research on energy consumption and CO2 emissions of buildings in Zhejiang Province based on life cycle assessment. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou (in Chinese)
Yan H, Shen Q, Fan L, Wang Y, Zhang L (2010) Greenhouse gas emissions in building construction: a case study of One Peking in Hong Kong. Build Environ 45:949–955
Yim S, Ng S, Hossain M, Wong J (2018) Comprehensive evaluation of carbon emissions for the development of high-rise residential building. Buildings 8(11):147. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8110147
Yu M, Wiedmann T, Crawford R, Tait C (2017) The carbon footprint of Australia’s construction sector. Procedia Eng 180:211–220
Zhang J (2013) Life cycle carbon measurement of Hong Kong construction materials: cement, concrete and plywood. Master’s Thesis, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology University, Hong Kong, China
Zhang X, Shen L, Zhang L (2016) Life cycle assessment of the air emissions during building construction process: a case study in Hong Kong. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 17:160–169
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank all who assisted in conducting this work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Editorial responsibility: M. Abbaspour.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jafary Nasab, T., Monavari, S.M., Jozi, S.A. et al. Assessment of carbon footprint in the construction phase of high-rise constructions in Tehran. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 17, 3153–3164 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-019-02557-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-019-02557-3