Life-cycle assessment of post-disaster temporary housing

• Published in: Building research and information : the international journal of research, development and demonstration Vol. 45; no. 5; pp. 524 - 538
• Main Author: Atmaca, Nihat
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Routledge 04-07-2017; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Building construction; Buildings; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Construction; Construction materials; container house; Containers; Demolition; Design; Design analysis; Design engineering; Disaster recovery; Emission; Emissions; Energy consumption; Energy efficiency; Energy management; Energy requirements; greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; Houses; Housing; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; life-cycle assessment (LCA); Mathematical models; pH effects; Phases; Power efficiency; prefabricated house; Prefabrication; primary energy; Residential areas; Systems analysis; temporary shelter; Turkey
• ISSN: 0961-3218; 1466-4321
• DOI: 10.1080/09613218.2015.1127116

The estimation of energy consumption and related CO
2
emissions from buildings is increasingly important in life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies that have been applied in the design of more energy-efficient building construction systems and materials. This study undertakes a life-cycle energy analysis (LCEA) and life-cycle CO
2
emissions analysis (LCCO
2
A) of two common types of post-disaster temporary houses constructed in Turkey. The proposed model includes building construction, operation and demolition phases to estimate total energy use and CO
2
emissions over 15- and 25-year lifespans for container houses (CH) and prefabricated houses (PH) respectively. Energy efficiency and emission parameters are defined per m
2
and on a per capita basis. It is found that the operation phase is dominant in both PH and CH and contributes 86-88% of the primary energy requirements and 95-96% of CO
2
emissions. The embodied energy (EE) of the constructions accounts for 12-14% of the overall life-cycle energy consumption. The results show that life-cycle energy and emissions intensity in CH are higher than those for PH. However, this pattern is reversed when energy requirements are expressed on a per capita basis.