Integrating life-cycle GHG emissions into a building’s economic evaluation

Abstract

Buildings contribute to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout their life—from material extraction and production to building demolition and disposal. Current GHG emission reduction efforts largely focus on building operation, typically ignoring embodied emissions. One of the main barriers affecting the uptake of embodied GHG emissions considerations is the uncertainty related to the economic value of a building with reduced life-cycle GHG emissions. A conceptual approach is presented for integrating the life-cycle GHG emissions of a building into an economic evaluation. A case study detached residential dwelling located in Melbourne, Australia, is used to demonstrate the approach using a..