A conceptual methodology for estimating embodied carbon emissions of buildings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The reduction of whole building life cycle carbon requires equal attention on both operational carbon (OC) and embodied carbon (EC). Regardless of that, the Sri Lankan building sector concentrates mainly on reducing OC. The importance of reducing EC is yet to be fully realised. Therefore, there an opportunity exists to encourage research community, practitioners and policy makers associated with Sri Lankan building sector regarding EC reduction. The main drive towards EC reduction is estimation or assessment, as without this, it is impossible to realise the extent to how much is needed to be reduced. Even though, EC estimation process has been well developed and documented over the last years, it is yet a challenging process to Sri Lanka due to many difficulties such as difficulty in setting up a suitable estimation scope, unavailability of an up to date country-specific EC coefficient database for building materials and time consuming and work intensive nature of the estimation procedure due to unavailability of a suitable estimation tool. To deal with these challenges, initially it requires to establish a conceptual EC estimation methodology appropriate to the Sri Lankan building context. Accordingly, this study developed an EC estimation methodology based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach; setting up the scope, performing EC coefficient inventory analysis and undertaking EC estimation and interpretation. Subsequently, the developed methodology was verified in terms of its applicability using a proposed commercial building in Sri Lanka. As a further study, it is intended to develop a statistical tool to estimate EC during design stage of commercial buildings in Sri Lanka conforming to this methodology.