Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon in Different Industrialized Structural Systems Scenarios of a Prototype Building

Abstract

A design optimization strategy for the embodied impacts reduction, is to consider a industrialized prefabrication techniques according to the type of building, insomuch as design process take acount a disassembly system, it would be decreese the waste, raw material, therefore the embodied impacts. This work aims to obtain the results of environmental impacts, characterized in two types of impacts considered relevant in the construction industry, based on the principle of energy conservation, these impacts are: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon (CO2 equivalent), in the manufacture and transport of seven versions of pre-sized structural models with industrialized construction systems, for the same prototype building, as well as, check the variables that affect the selection of a construction system at an early stage of design. The structural preliminary draft, along with the pre-dimensioned considering only the gravitational loads, is a representative sample for an evaluation and decision-making in the early stages of a project, which lead the design team to consider hybrid industrialized manufacturing systems, between open and closed, or between prefabricated and in-situ systems, in order to avoid envioronmental impacts.