RP2007u1: Integrated Carbon Metrics – Tool alignment with the National Carbon Offset Standard for Precincts

In this project two tools developed through the primary RP2007 project will be aligned with the National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) for precincts. The first tool is the Precinct Carbon Assessment (PCA) tool developed at the University of South Australia, the second is the Embodied Carbon Explorer (ECE) online tool developed at UNSW Sydney.

The goals are to maximise the compatibility of both tools with NCOS requirements and to enhance the usability of the tools for end-users so that standard-compliant assessments of various precinct carbon neutrality scenarios can be made and demonstrated by using the respective strengths of the tools.

Users of the tools will be CRCLCL industry partners as well as other industry clients or consultants interested in NCOS Precinct assessments.

Program

Program 2: Low Carbon Precincts

Project leader

A/Prof Thomas Wiedmann

Project status

Complete

Project period

03/2018 to 12/2018

Publications
Posters
Partners

CRCLCL Project Reports

RP2007: Journal Article: The Australian construction industry’s approach to embodied carbon assessment: a scoping study, Living and Learning: Research for a Better Built Environment,

Fouché, M. and Crawford, R.H. (2015) The Australian construction industry’s approach to embodied carbon assessment: a scoping study, Living and Learning: Research for a Better Built Environment, 49th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association, edited by Crawford, R.H. and Stephan, A., Melbourne, Australia, 2-4 December, 578-587.

Fouché, M. and Crawford, R.H. (2015) The Australian construction industry’s approach to embodied carbon assessment (177798 PDF)

RP2007 Journal Article: Energy and carbon performance evaluation for buildings and urban precincts: review and a new modelling concept

Huang, B., Xing, K. and Pullen S. (2015) Energy and carbon performance evaluation for buildings and urban precincts: review and a new modelling concept. Journal of Cleaner Production (published online 23 December 2015).

With the accelerating pace of urbanisation around the world, the planning, development and operation of buildings and precincts have become increasingly important with respect to energy use and the associated carbon footprint of the modern built environment. Over recent decades, much effort, both in research and in practice, has been devoted to building construction and urban planning for the improvement of energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. However, the accuracy of modelling and evaluation of energy and carbon performance for buildings and urban precincts remains limited, affected by inadequate energy intensity data and highly integrated building systems, as well as the complex interactions between buildings and the urban eco-system. This paper presents a critical review of current measures and models for representing and assessing life cycle energy as well as associated emissions profiles at both the building and the precinct levels. It also identifies influential factors and explores interactions among buildings, surrounding environment and user behaviours at the urban precinct level by taking a systems perspective. Based on such a review, this study maps out some key challenges for integrating energy and carbon metrics, and finally proposes a precinct-level system boundary definition and an integrated model following systems thinking. The proposed model can facilitate a critical thinking approach about the evaluations of global energy and emissions, and support the quantification of energy consumption and associated emissions for building precinct systems.

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RP2007 Journal Article: The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Industrial Ecology

Wiedmann, T. O., Chen, G. and Barrett, J. (2015) The Concept of City Carbon Maps: A Case Study of Melbourne, Australia. Journal of Industrial Ecology, (published online 12 October 2015).

Cities are thought to be associated with most of humanity's consumption of natural resources and impacts on the environment. Cities not only constitute major centers of economic activity, knowledge, innovation, and governance—they are also said to be linked to approximately 70% to 80% of global carbon dioxide emissions. This makes cities primary agents of change in a resource- and carbon-constraint world. In order to set meaningful targets, design successful policies, and implement effective mitigation strategies, it is important that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting for cities is accurate, comparable, comprehensive, and complete. Despite recent developments in the standardization of city GHG accounting, there is still a lack of consistent guidelines regarding out-of-boundary emissions, thus hampering efforts to identify mitigation priorities and responsibilities. We introduce a new conceptual framework—based on environmental input-output analysis—that allows for a consistent and complete reconciliation of direct and indirect GHG emissions from a city. The “city carbon map” shows local, regional, national, and global origins and destinations of flows of embodied emissions. We test the carbon map concept by applying it to the greater metropolitan area of Melbourne, Australia. We discuss the results and limitations of the approach in the light of possible mitigation strategies and policies by different urban stakeholders.

Read the article online

LCLCRC Project Posters