Reducing the climate impact of a building in the design phase -Identifying focus areas in the design phase
Typ
Examensarbete på grundnivå
Program
Publicerad
2020
Författare
Boberg, John
Håkansson, Per
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Some of the largest actors within the building sector have recently introduced road
maps and goals to make the industry more sustainable. In order to establish a focus
area for sustainable building development, this study looks to determine what elements
and sections of a building contributes to the largest amount of greenhouse gas
emissions. Additionally, the reader gets to follow an investigation into what possible
measures and changes a structural engineer can make to reduce and improve
the climate impact of the design of a building as well as what obstacles hinders the
progress. The study has been made in collaboration with the building structures
department at WSP Sweden in Gothenburg.
To sufficiently cover such a broad subject area, the study was carried out in three
different sections. Firstly, a literature study was conducted on relevant papers, literature
and industry standards. Additionally, research was also made into what
sustainability goals have been set within the building industry.
Secondly, an interview study was conducted with stakeholders at the building structures
department at WSP. The group of interviewees were chosen to be of differing
positions, experience and insight into sustainable building technology to garner several
perspectives and arguments. Additionally, a survey was sent out to the building
structures department to accumulate a more quantitative result for certain matters.
The third and final section was a case study that was built upon the results of the
interviews. The purpose of it was to visualise the amount of greenhouse gases that
originate from the concrete in two separate hospital buildings, as well as the impact
of the measures proposed in the interviews. The measures investigated were a reduction
of concrete volume by reducing the thickness of all walls and slabs, lowering
the concrete class of all concrete in the building and the impact of various amounts
of steel reinforcement in the floor slabs.
The primary conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that there are large
possibilities to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the building process, but
the implementation is complex in the current industry climate. The case study
demonstrates that the reduction of wall and slab thickness, as well as the lowering
of concrete classes had a substantial impact on the buildings total greenhouse gas
emissions. The majority of measures lifted in the interview study may also have a
significant impact from a sustainable perspective, but often come with costs or risks
in different aspects. Due to this, it is important to find optimum balance between
different aspects, which is time-consuming. This has resulted in a great push for a
more streamlined, user-friendly and restructured design process as it would help the
industry to focus more on optimization. There is a strong consensus that this can
change with further knowledge and experience of sustainable building technology.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
sustainable building, greenhouse gas, emissions, structural engineer, climate impact, building industry, concrete, steel reinforcement, design process, optimization v