Environmental impact assesment applying indicators embedded into a social housing BIM model

Abstract

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has become a versatile tool to analyze the building life cycle and to achieve efficient use of natural resources and raw materials, as well as waste reduction, reuse and recycling towards the goal of a decarbonized building stock for 2020 in Europe. This work proposes a new methodology to introduce embodied energy (EE), carbon emissions (CE), construction & demolition waste (CDW), and urban solid waste (USW) indicators into BIM models to assess environmental impact following the work breakdown structure of the Andalusian Construction Cost Database (ACCD). A case study of a social residential block is presented, focused on the concrete structure analysis because of its high impact. The results show the preponderant role that concrete plays in the environmental impact. It is also observed that steel consumes less energy than concrete and provokes less CE as well. Moreover, it offers the possibility of recycling while reducing waste quantity. When analyzed by task, foundations present much less impact than the superstructure. Furthermore, each square meter of the typical housing block generates 76.11kg of CDW, being 75.77 kg of mixed waste, mainly concrete and 0.34 kg of steel waste.