Ecological Footprint of the Life Cycle of Buildings
17
engine to obtain the litres of fuel consumed, differentiating whether the machine
consumes diesel or petrol. Once the litres of fuel consumed are known, the coefficient
is applied to obtain the amount of CO 2 generated by one litre of fuel [86].
A similar approach is followed for the consumption of electrical machinery used
on site, analysing the engine power, and the hours of use, obtaining the total kWh
consumed [60]. To these data is applied the coefficient which indicates the CO 2
emissions generated for the production of one kWh of energy by the Spanish electrical
system [87], that is, the GHG emissions, or global warming potential (GWP) and
transforming them into tons of CO 2 equivalent.
4. Water consumed on site
To obtain the water consumed in the irrigation of concrete during construction of
the building structure, the investigations of [2], obtaining a coefficient that relates
the m
3 of water per constructed surface. Finally, the coefficient that indicates the
electrical energy necessary (kWh) to obtain one m
3 of water is applied to the total
water consumed, as indicated in Eq. 6 (Table 1).
5. Land consumption
The EF methodology takes into account the land that is directly occupied, as it will
be biologically unproductive from the moment it is developed. The indicator defines
two possible types of territory, forests or crops. In our case, the plot is considered
agricultural. In the present analysis, as in previous works [2, 14], according to Eq. 7
in Table 1.
6. Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)
CDWs are the remnants, waste or demolition materials on site. Consequently,
they will not have environmental impacts themselves as their original impact was
accounted for in the entry of the new materials. Instead, it will be necessary to determine the CDW hours of machinery and manpower required for collection and transport to the landfill or recycling plant. These hours of both machinery and manpower
are also quantified in the model, based on previous work by the authors [15]. These
management hours for CDWs are included in the budget, separately in its corresponding chapter, as required by Royal Decree 105/2008 [72, 88]. Therefore, for the
environmental evaluation of the CDWs, the environmental impact associated with
the hours of machinery and manpower will be evaluated in the same way that the
evaluation of these resources has been defined in the previous sections.
7. Direct consumption during the use stage
In general, for the calculation of energy and water consumption, empirical data
obtained from simulation software, supply companies, data from other research will
be used [89, 90], the Technical Building Code (CTE) [56] and organizations such
as the National Statistics Institute [91], the Institute for Energy Diversification and
Saving [86] and the World Health Organization (WHO). The parameters used for the
estimates of each of the direct consumptions are defined in detail below.
17
engine to obtain the litres of fuel consumed, differentiating whether the machine
consumes diesel or petrol. Once the litres of fuel consumed are known, the coefficient
is applied to obtain the amount of CO 2 generated by one litre of fuel [86].
A similar approach is followed for the consumption of electrical machinery used
on site, analysing the engine power, and the hours of use, obtaining the total kWh
consumed [60]. To these data is applied the coefficient which indicates the CO 2
emissions generated for the production of one kWh of energy by the Spanish electrical
system [87], that is, the GHG emissions, or global warming potential (GWP) and
transforming them into tons of CO 2 equivalent.
4. Water consumed on site
To obtain the water consumed in the irrigation of concrete during construction of
the building structure, the investigations of [2], obtaining a coefficient that relates
the m
3 of water per constructed surface. Finally, the coefficient that indicates the
electrical energy necessary (kWh) to obtain one m
3 of water is applied to the total
water consumed, as indicated in Eq. 6 (Table 1).
5. Land consumption
The EF methodology takes into account the land that is directly occupied, as it will
be biologically unproductive from the moment it is developed. The indicator defines
two possible types of territory, forests or crops. In our case, the plot is considered
agricultural. In the present analysis, as in previous works [2, 14], according to Eq. 7
in Table 1.
6. Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)
CDWs are the remnants, waste or demolition materials on site. Consequently,
they will not have environmental impacts themselves as their original impact was
accounted for in the entry of the new materials. Instead, it will be necessary to determine the CDW hours of machinery and manpower required for collection and transport to the landfill or recycling plant. These hours of both machinery and manpower
are also quantified in the model, based on previous work by the authors [15]. These
management hours for CDWs are included in the budget, separately in its corresponding chapter, as required by Royal Decree 105/2008 [72, 88]. Therefore, for the
environmental evaluation of the CDWs, the environmental impact associated with
the hours of machinery and manpower will be evaluated in the same way that the
evaluation of these resources has been defined in the previous sections.
7. Direct consumption during the use stage
In general, for the calculation of energy and water consumption, empirical data
obtained from simulation software, supply companies, data from other research will
be used [89, 90], the Technical Building Code (CTE) [56] and organizations such
as the National Statistics Institute [91], the Institute for Energy Diversification and
Saving [86] and the World Health Organization (WHO). The parameters used for the
estimates of each of the direct consumptions are defined in detail below.