This book develops a model to evaluate and assess life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions based on typical Australian commercial building design options. It also draws comparisons between some of the many green building rating tools that have been developed worldwide to support sustainable development. These include: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) by the Building Research Establishment, Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) by the Japanese Sustainable Building Consortium, and Green Star Environmental Rating System by the Green Building Council of Australia. Life-cycle assessment (LCA), life-cycle energy consumption, and life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions form the three pillars of life-cycle studies, which have been used to evaluate environmental impacts of building construction. Assessment of the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of buildings is one of the significant obstacles in evaluating green building performance. This book explains the methodology for achieving points for the categories associated with reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the Australian Green Star rating system. The model for the assessment uses GaBi 8.7 platform along with Visual Basic in Microsoft Excel and shows the relationship between the building’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions released during the lifetime of the building. The data gathered in the book also illustrates that the green building design and specifications are becoming more popular and are being increasingly utilized in Australia. This book is important reading for anyone interested in sustainable construction, green design and buildings and LCA tools.

In the quest to mitigate the buildup of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, researchers and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention to techniques for capturing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, either from the locations where they are emitted or directly from the atmosphere. Once captured, these gases can be stored or put to use. While both carbon storage and carbon utilization have costs, utilization offers the opportunity to recover some of the cost and even generate economic value. While current carbon utilization projects operate at a relatively small scale, some estimates suggest the market for waste carbon-derived products could grow to hundreds of billions of dollars within a few decades, utilizing several thousand teragrams of waste carbon gases per year. Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization: Status and Research Needs assesses research and development needs relevant to understanding and improving the commercial viability of waste carbon utilization technologies and defines a research agenda to address key challenges. The report is intended to help inform decision making surrounding the development and deployment of waste carbon utilization technologies under a variety of circumstances, whether motivated by a goal to improve processes for making carbon-based products, to generate revenue, or to achieve environmental goals.

In the 21st century, management of municipal solid waste (MSW) continues to be an important environmental challenge facing the U.S. Climate change is also a serious issue, & the U.S. is embarking on a number of voluntary actions to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that can intensify climate change. By presenting material-specific GHG emission factors for various waste management options, this report examines how the two issues -- MSW management & climate change -- are related. The report's findings may be used to support a variety of programs & activities, including voluntary reporting of emission reductions from waste management practices. Charts, tables & graphs.

The mission of the Greenhouse gas protocol initiative (GHG protocol) is to develop and promote internationally accepted greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reportin standards through an open and inclusive process.

Provides specific principles, concepts, and methods for quantifying and reporting GHG reductions from climate change mitigation projects. This report serves as a tool for determining the greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits of climate mitigation projects.

Life cycle assessment enables the identification of a broad range of potential environmental impacts occurring across the entire life of a product, from its design through to its eventual disposal or reuse. The need for life cycle assessment to inform environmental design within the built environment is critical, due to the complex range of materials and processes required to construct and manage our buildings and infrastructure systems. After outlining the framework for life cycle assessment, this book uses a range of case studies to demonstrate the innovative input-output-based hybrid approach for compiling a life cycle inventory. This approach enables a comprehensive analysis of a broad range of resource requirements and environmental outputs so that the potential environmental impacts of a building or infrastructure system can be ascertained. These case studies cover a range of elements that are part of the built environment, including a residential building, a commercial office building and a wind turbine, as well as individual building components such as a residential-scale photovoltaic system. Comprehensively introducing and demonstrating the uses and benefits of life cycle assessment for built environment projects, this book will show you how to assess the environmental performance of your clients’ projects, to compare design options across their entire life and to identify opportunities for improving environmental performance.

This report serves as a guide for the project team to define and model the structural system within the reference building design as required by green building standards and rating systems.