Makoto Yamaguchi* and Toshiro Ogasawara*

* Institute of Technology, Shimizu Corporation

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Makoto Yamaguchi:
(4-17, Etchujima 3-chome, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8530)

Abstract

The overall aim of this study-in-progress is to obtain a quantitative grasp of the environmental loading imposed by the construction of buildings, which is closely related to global environment issues, with the aims of saving energy and resources and reducing waste. As a step towards this goal, we investigated the fixed resource consumption, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and waste discharges resulting from construction of a model 14-story steel-structure office building with two basement floors and one penthouse floor. Details of the resources used in carrying out about 4,000 different construction tasks were collected. Various techniques were used to classify the materials used in these tasks into 19 basic types, and based on this classification, a resource investment index (kg of each material per m2) was derived. The total resource investment in the building, (about 2,800 kg/m2) and also in six similar buildings of different sizes was then calculated. On the basis of the calculated resource investment in each building, the energy invested in construction was calculated from available figures of standard energy input. This was then converted into a figure for CO2 emission, which turned out to be about 435 C-kg/m2. This high output value seems attributable to the use of iron and cement not only in the superstructure of steel frame construction but also in the steel frame and reinforced concrete composite substructure incorporating two basement floors (for district heating and cooling facilities, and a parking area) . The amount of waste discharged during construction of the model building was also studied. Consumption/discharge ratios were defined for 27 materials used in 10 different tasks, and these were used to calculate the waste generated in carrying out 785 construction processes. The total waste discharge as calculated in this way was compared to values derived by multiplying the floor area of the building by mixed waste values for another building with the same attributes.

Key words: global environmental affairs, fixed resource consumption, waste discharge, carbon dioxide, energy consumption, LCA