Operating Life Cycle

Assessment:
Environmental Analyses
STUDENT NAME: Adam Salmy
Student ID: CU202000673

Submission Date: DD/MM/YYYY

Coursework #: Group Project 3 - CENG
LVL6 - S02 2023/2024
Submission Date: 12/05/2024
KH6030EXQ – Group Project 3 – 2023/2024
Table of Contents
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. ii

List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. iv

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1

2. Autodesk Revit 3D Model ....................................................................................................... 2

3. Environmental Analyses .......................................................................................................... 9

4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 19

5. References ............................................................................................................................. 20

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List of Figures
Figure 2-1 Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………………………………………………….3

Figure 2-2 Room Spaces in Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………………………………..3

Figure 2-3 Structural Plan of GF in Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………………………..4

Figure 2-4 Structural Plan of GF Roof in Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………………….4

Figure 2-5 Structural Plan of First Floor in Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………………..5

Figure 2-6 Structural Plan of First Floor Roof in Autodesk Revit 3D Model…………………….5

Figure 2-7 Analytical Spaces Model in Autodesk Revit 3D Model……………………………....6

Figure 3-1 Locations of Weather Stations on Revit………………………………………………10

Figure 3-2 Density (kg/m3) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart……………………………….14

Figure 3-3 Green House Gases Embodied Factor (kg CO2-eq/kg) and Thermal Conductivity
(W/m*k) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart…………………………………………………..14

Figure 3-4 Total Annual Energy Electric (kWh) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart………....15

Figure 3-5 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of each Wall Material in a Bar
Chart……………………………………………………………………………………………...15

Figure 3-6 Density (kg/m3) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart………………………………16

Figure 3-7 Green House Gases Embodied Factor (kg CO2-eq/kg) and Thermal Conductivity
(W/m*k) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart………………………………………………….16

Figure 3-8 Total Annual Energy Electric (kWh) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart………...16

Figure 3-9 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of each Floor Material in a Bar
Chart……………………………………………………………………………………………...17

Figure 3-10 Total Operating Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of The Whole Building for each
Material in a Bar Chart…………………………………………………………………………..18

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Figure 3-11 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of The Whole Building for each
Material in a Bar Chart…………………………………………………………………………..18

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List of Tables
Table 2-1 Analytical Room Spaces’ Measurement……………………………………………….7

Table 2-2 Dataset of Several Materials for Concrete……………………………………………..8

Table 2-3 Dataset of Several Materials for Brick…………………………………………………8

Table 3-1 Scenario No. 1 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions…………………11

Table 3-2 Scenario No. 2 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions…………………11

Table 3-3 Scenario No. 3 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions………………..12

Table 3-4 Scenario No. 4 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions………………..12

Table 3-5 Scenario No. 5 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions………………..13

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1. Introduction
Creating a green building will help balance the three sustainability pillars: environment, society,
and economy by taking into consideration reducing the embodied and operating carbon emissions
(kg CO2-eq) effects have on the natural habitats for the organisms to survive and protecting the
environment to provide clean air and water, and prioritizing the natural ventilation to provide a
healthier indoor air, thermal and acoustic environments for the society and reduce energy
consumptions and maintenance costs of a building to be economical. Therefore, an optimization
of a certain building will be made by using both the Autodesk Green Building Studio and Revit
Dynamo to be able to do the environmental analyses to have an accurate measurement of carbon
emissions (kg CO2-eq) and try to make it as sustainable as possible.

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2. Autodesk Revit 3D Model
Before doing the environment analyses, it is required to do some modifications and adjustments to
the existing Revit 3D model that has been made in Coursework one and then start drawing the
exterior and interior walls and the basic material for the walls is brick to be used for the
environmental analyses. Moreover, the exterior walls' width and thickness are equal to 250
millimeters, while the interior walls' width and thickness are equal to 125 millimeters and a
minimum of five rooms is to be drawn just to be able to start doing the analyses.

After drawing the exterior walls, the interior walls will then be drawn by creating a minimum of
five rooms to be able to do the operating and embodied carbon emissions calculations. Moreover,
after drawing the walls, it is important to start adding the spaces to be able to generate the energy
model and get the energy consumption.

The villa consists of a slab on grade and two floors, which are the ground floor and first floor and
then the last thing is the roof of the first floor. Moreover, the slab on grade is mentioned as GF in
the Revit 3D model and the ground floor is mentioned as the GF Roof. Moreover, the basic material
for the slabs is concrete to be used for the environmental analyses.

It is important to adjust the top offset of the walls according to the slabs' thickness. For example,
the thickness of the ground floor (GF) roof slab is 220 millimeters which means it is necessary to
adjust the top offset of the interior and exterior walls from 0 to -220.0 to prevent overlapping
between the walls and slabs and faulty errors for the 3D model to be efficient and have accurate
data and calculations.

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The following figures will show the Revit 3D model along with the exterior and interior walls
drawn in the structural plans.

Figure 2-1 Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

Figure 2-2 Room Spaces in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

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 Figure 2-3 Structural Plan of GF in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

Figure 2-4 Structural Plan of GF Roof in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

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 Figure 2-5 Structural Plan of First Floor in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

Figure 2-6 Structural Plan of First Floor Roof in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

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The following figure and table below show the Analytical Room Spaces model along with their
areas and volumes:

Figure 2-7 Analytical Spaces Model in Autodesk Revit 3D Model.

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Table 2-1 Analytical Room Spaces’ Measurement.

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Doing five scenarios means choosing five different materials in walls and slabs that are provided
in the ‘’KBOB Materials’’ Excel in tab below called the ‘’Materials Needed Data’’ on Moodle.

Table 2-2 Dataset of Several Materials for Concrete.

Table 2-3 Dataset of Several Materials for Brick.

Tables 2-1 and 2-2 show several materials for both concrete and brick with different densities
(kg/m3), greenhouse gases embodied factors (kg CO2-eq/kg), and thermal conductivities (W/m*k).

Materials for concrete and brick will be chosen randomly and then to add them on the Revit 3D
model by duplicating the basic used material of concrete and brick and renaming it to the material
that has been chosen and start changing the density and thermal conductivity according to the
chosen material as shown in Tables 2-1 and 2-2.

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3. Environmental Analyses
An environmental analysis will be made using the Revit 3D model to show the total embodied and
operating carbon emissions to get the best scenario from several material alternatives using
Autodesk Green Building Studio and Revit Dynamo.

Five scenarios will be made using the ‘’Materials Needed Data’’ on Excel provided on Moodle
and comparisons between each scenario will be created in bar charts to choose the best possible
scenario with less carbon emissions, achieving an efficient green building that balances between
the three sustainability pillars.

Difference between Embodied Carbon (kg CO2-eq) and Operating Carbon (kg CO2-eq):

Embodied Carbon (kg CO2-eq): It is an upfront/initial carbon footprint in which the emissions
come from the building’s materials like concrete and steel or during the construction process like
extracting raw materials, demolishing existing structures, doing construction site activities, and
transporting the building materials to the construction site. Therefore, a green building can be
achieved by making sure that this material is sustainable, where a type of concrete material for this
building must release a low embodied carbon before completing the construction process for this
building as once it is done then these carbon emissions cannot be reduced after the realizing it.

Operating Carbon (kg CO2-eq): It is generally about the continuous carbon emissions coming
from the operating building, which is associated with energy consumption and includes the use of
cooling, heating, and lighting from air conditioners, heaters, and light bulbs. Therefore, it is easy
to reduce the operational emissions during the lifespan of a building by choosing and placing an
efficient material depending on its density and thermal conductivity and it is recommended to place
efficient insulations and high-performance windows to likely reduce the energy electric
consumption and operating emissions to be cost-effective for maintenance and the building to be
more sustainable and to provide an efficient indoor air quality and natural ventilation for the
building just not to rely on the mechanical systems to move air and save energy consumption.

To get the total embodied carbon emissions (kg CO2-eq), it is important to draw the external and
internal walls and choose several materials to put the density and thermal conductivity of each
brick on the Revit 3D model to be able to run the Revit Dynamo and change the factor on it from

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0.1 to Green House Gases Embodied Factor (kg CO₂-eq/kg) of each material to get the needed and
accurate embodied carbon (kg CO2-eq) for each wall. Moreover, the same will be done for the
concrete floors, which are already drawn on the Revit 3D model, to get the needed and accurate
embodied carbon (kg CO2-eq) for each slab and then sum up the embodied carbon of the wall and
slab to have the total embodied carbon (kg CO2-eq).

The same will be done for getting the total operating carbon emissions except that it will be using
the Autodesk Green Building Studio to obtain the needed total annual energy electric (kWh) and
then multiply it by a factor of 0.613060036 to have the total operating carbon emissions (kg CO2-
eq). Furthermore, it depends on the location of the building being placed on, which is the New
Administrative Capital, Cairo.

Figure 3-1 Locations of Weather Stations on Revit.

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 The five scenarios will be created and shown in the tables below to be able to compare each
scenario and come up with the best and most sustainable one.

Scenario No. 1:

Element Material Density Green House Gases Thermal Total Annual Total Total Total
3
(kg/m ) Embodied Factor (kg Conductivity Energy Operating Embodied Carbon
CO₂-eq/kg) (W/m*k) Electric Emissions Emissions Emissions
(kWh) (kg CO2-eq) (kg CO2- (kg CO2-
eq) eq)
Walls Cement Stone 1700.00 0.12 0.70 58,922.00 36,122.72 42,433.49 45,544.51

Slabs Civil 2350.00 0.10 1.80 3,111.02

(Floors) Engineering
(Without
Reinforcement)

Table 3-1 Scenario No. 1 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions.

Scenario No. 2:

Element Material Density Green House Gases Thermal Total Annual Total Total Total
(kg/m3) Embodied Factor (kg Conductivity Energy Operating Embodied Carbon
CO₂-eq/kg) (W/m*k) Electric Emissions Emissions Emissions
(kWh) (kg CO2-eq) (kg CO2- (kg CO2-
eq) eq)
Walls Sand Lime 1400.00 0.13 1.00 59,624.00 36,553.09 37,857.33 45,945.98

Slabs Precast 2770.00 0.26 1.30 8,088.65

(Floors) Concrete
(High-Strength
Concrete) Ex
Works

Table 3-2 Scenario No. 2 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions.

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 Scenario No. 3:

Element Material Density Green House Gases Thermal Total Annual Total Total Total
(kg/m3) Embodied Factor (kg Conductivity Energy Operating Embodied Carbon
CO₂-eq/kg) (W/m*k) Electric Emissions Emissions Emissions
(kWh) (kg CO2-eq) (kg CO2- (kg CO2-
eq) eq)
Walls Cinder Block 500.00 0.41 0.12 56,988.00 34,937.07 42,641.49 51,663.44

Slabs Hemp 600.00 0.29 0.08 9,021.95

(Floors) Concrete

Table 3-3 Scenario No. 3 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions.

Scenario No. 4:

Element Material Density Green House Gases Thermal Total Annual Total Total Total
3
(kg/m ) Embodied Factor (kg Conductivity Energy Operating Embodied Carbon
CO₂-eq/kg) (W/m*k) Electric Emissions Emissions Emissions
(kWh) (kg CO2-eq) (kg CO2- (kg CO2-
eq) eq)
Walls Cement Stone 700.00 0.16 0.07 56,596.00 34,696.75 23,296.82 26,718.94

Slabs Civil 2325.00 0.11 1.50 3,422.12

(Floors) Engineering
(Without
Reinforcement)

Table 3-4 Scenario No. 4 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions.

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 Scenario No. 5:

Element Material Density Green House Gases Thermal Total Annual Total Total Total
3
(kg/m ) Embodied Factor (kg Conductivity Energy Operating Embodied Carbon
CO₂-eq/kg) (W/m*k) Electric Emissions Emissions Emissions
(kWh) (kg CO2-eq) (kg CO2- (kg CO2-
eq) eq)
Walls Cement Stone 900.00 0.25 0.60 59,201.00 36,293.77 46,801.64 48,357.15

Slabs Civil 2150.00 0.05 0.80 1,555.51

(Floors) Engineering
(Without
Reinforcement)

Table 3-5 Scenario No. 5 of Total Embodied and Operating Carbon Emissions.

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After creating the five scenarios using Autodesk Green Building Studio and Revit Dynamo, the
comparisons between each material in each different scenario will be represented in bar charts
showing the density, greenhouse gases embodied factor, and thermal conductivity along with the
measurements of total annual energy electric and total embodied carbon emissions.

Walls (Brick):

Figure 3-2 Density (kg/m3) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart.

Figure 3-3 Green House Gases Embodied Factor (kg CO2-eq/kg) and Thermal Conductivity (W/m*k) of each Wall Material
in a Bar Chart.

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 Figure 3-4 Total Annual Energy Electric (kWh) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart.

Figure 3-5 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of each Wall Material in a Bar Chart.

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Floors (Concrete):

Figure 3-6 Density (kg/m3) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart.

Figure 3-7 Green House Gases Embodied Factor (kg CO2-eq/kg) and Thermal Conductivity (W/m*k) of each Floor Material
in a Bar Chart.

Figure 3-8 Total Annual Energy Electric (kWh) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart.

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Figure 3-9 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of each Floor Material in a Bar Chart.

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Total Operating and Embodied Carbon Emissions:

Figure 3-10 Total Operating Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of The Whole Building for each Material in a Bar Chart.

Figure 3-11 Total Embodied Carbon Emissions (kg CO2-eq) of The Whole Building for each Material in a Bar Chart.

The best scenario to achieve a green and sustainable is scenario number four because shown in
Figures 3-10 and 3-11 both the Light Earth Brick and Bored Pile Concrete have the least total
operating and embodied carbon emissions than any other materials or scenarios as both of them
equals 34,696.75 (kg CO2-eq) and 26,718.94 (kg CO2-eq), which is beneficial for the environment
and society and cost-effective that is likely to be economical.

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4. Conclusion
The embodied carbon emissions are upfront carbon footprint related to the building’s materials
like concrete and steel, while the operating carbon emissions are the carbon that is released during
the lifespan of an operating building due to the energy consumption as it includes the use of
cooling, heating, and lighting from air conditioners, heaters, and light bulbs. Therefore, addressing
this issue requires a selection of efficient materials to reduce carbon emissions and save energy by
not relying on mechanical systems, which will achieve a sustainable green building.

Five scenarios with different materials for walls and slabs of each scenario will be created using
Autodesk Green Building Studio to attain the total annual energy electric and then multiply it by
a factor of 0.613060036 to get the total operating carbon emissions, and also the Revit Dynamo
will be used to get the embodied carbon emissions for each material in different scenario of walls
and slabs and sum them up to get the total embodied carbon emissions.

Comparisons will be made in different bar charts demonstrating the density, greenhouse gases
embodied factor, total annual energy electric, and total operating and embodied carbon emissions
for the walls and slabs to come up with the best scenario.

After getting the total operating and embodied carbon emissions and creating bar charts, it is likely
that scenario number four is the most sustainable one as both the Light Earth Brick and Bored Pile
Concrete have the least total operating and embodied carbon emissions than any other materials or
scenarios as both of them equals 34,696.75 (kg CO2-eq) and 26,718.94 (kg CO2-eq).

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5. References
Demianenko, M., & de Gaetani, C. I. (2021). A procedure for automating energy analyses in the
bim context exploiting artificial neural networks and transfer learning technique. Energies, 14(10).
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102956

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