Environmental Impact Assesment by Means of Indicators Embedded in a Bim Model of Social Housing

Abstract

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has become a versatile tool to analyze the building life cycle and to achieve the efficient use of natural resources and the reduction, reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste towards the goal of a decarbonized building stock for 2020 in Europe. This research proposes a new methodology to introduce embodied energy (EE), carbon emissions (CE), construction and demolition waste (CDW), and urban solid waste (USW) indicators into BIM models that assess environmental impact following the structure of the Andalusian Construction Cost Database (ACCD). A block of social housing was chosen as a case study in order to focus on the analysis of its reinforced concrete structure due to its high impact. The results, grouped by task and indicator, show the dominant role that concrete plays in environmental impact. In contrast, steel proved to consume less energy and generate fewer CE as well. Moreover, steel may be recycled, while reducing the quantity of waste. When analyzed by task, the foundations cause much less impact than the tough superstructure. Likewise, each square meter of the typical housing block generates 76.11kg of CDW, with 76.77 kg of mixed concrete waste and 0.34 kg of steel waste.