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Case Study: TOOL TO CALCULATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT AND EMBEDDED ENERGY OF URBAN PROJECTS by G&C
G&C Arquitectos is an architectural, urban planning and landscape office born in
1997. From the very beginning, the office has been characterized by its special
attention to design as an essential element in the development of projects.
Furthermore, the office has been taken into account the environmental, bioclimatic
and energy efficiency criteria in their projects, counting nowadays with a Eco
design management system in accordance with UNE-EN ISO 14006 standard in
building, urban refurbishment and urban planning. This system blends with the
quality management system (ISO 9001) and the environmental management
system (ISO 14001) in place since 2001.
Description of
the company
The developed tool allows to compare the environmental impact
of different building solutions assessing the improvement in two
indicators: the embedded Energy and the Carbon Footprint.
Establishing the improvement of some solutions regarding
others, all of them available on the market.
Short
description of
the project
Key
Objectives of
the Project
The main goal of the project was to improve
reducing the environmental impact of the
urban planning projects. To do so, G&C has
developed an own tool to estimate the
carbon footprint of the different constructive
solutions used in said projects. The purpose
of this tool is to allow G&Q professionals to
make decisions when looking for concrete
solutions for the projects analyzing the
environmental impact of the products
throughout their entire LCA.
Timeline
Simplified LCA for calculation of Embedded
Energy and Carbon Footprint.
LC Approach
used in the
Project
Sector 1st July 2015
-
31st March 2016
G&Q has always been very committed to
sustainability, understood not only as energy
efficiency, but also a social sustainability, a
environmental sustainability. The office was
certified in eco-design ISO 14006 a few
years ago and this project means another
step forward in the sustainable commitment
of the company.
Motivation
Factors
• Marta González Cavia – G&C Arquitectos
(SME)
• Martin González Cavia – G&C Arquitectos
(SME)
• Jesús M. Baranda – G&C Arquitectos
(SME)
• Ana Belen de Isla – LKS Ingenieria
(Coach)
• Eugenia Atin – Prospektiker (LCiP Project)
• Olatz Errazkin – Prospektiker (LC
Champion)
Project team
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Case Study: TOOL TO CALCULATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT AND EMBEDDED ENERGY OF URBAN PROJECTS by G&C
The main challenge has been to create a
practical and intuitive tool. We have avoided any
solution which meant making it difficult to use or
to interpret. We have made a tool which gives
the data in a understandable way, so that it helps
in the decision-making process. The technical
difficulty has come from the sources of the data.
We have found different sources, however, they
were not comparable between them. Which
means, the difficulty has been to find
homogeneous sources, or as homogeneous as
they could get, to be able to compare the
different solutions rigorously.
Implementation
challenges /
lessons learnt
Expected
Impact
Results of the
project
Throughout the project we have held three meetings to define the goals, the tool and the methodology. We have
defined and created the architecture of the tool and the structure of the database – which will be the base of every
calculation. Then, the tool has been supplied with data from different institutions, such as the Technological Institute
of Catalunya (ITEC). Finally, the tool was used for a pilot project and the results were checked and verified.
The project has extended G&Q’s eco-designing methodology, from the using & maintenance phases, to other
phases with a significant impact potential. To do so, two indicators have been chosen: EMBEDDED ENERGY and
CARBON FOOTPRINT. The Embedded Energy refers to the total amount of energy used during the construction a
building. It takes into account everything from the fabrication process, to the energy consumed during transportation
of the materials to the construction site or the energy used by the diverse machinery. The Carbon Footprint of a
building quantifies the total amount of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emitted as a result of the construction mesured as
an equivalent mass of CO2.
Description of
the Project
Environmental Impact
The environmental impact of the implementation of the
new methodology and designed tool has been a great
one. The tool allows to demonstrate the differences, from
an environmental point of view, of the various common
design and urbanization solutions. In this sense, if the tool
were to be implemented among professionals and agents
of the value chain of the sector, it would imply a
considerable reduction of the environmental impact.
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Case Study: TOOL TO CALCULATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT AND EMBEDDED ENERGY OF URBAN PROJECTS by G&C
Description of
maturity in LC
approaches
before the
project
Before the project G&C had a mature
development of eco-designing system,
with a strong involvement from the
direction of the company and the head of
eco-design. They had an own guideline of
urbanization solutions, but without being
able to respond to indicators of
embedded energy and carbon footprint.
Description of
maturity in LC
approaches
after the
project
Maturity and Strategy
After the project G&C has an automated
tool which allows technicians, who are not
experts in the field, choose the most
adequate materials for the urbanization
projects serving taking into account both
indicators analyzed – embedded energy
and carbon footprint – in order to reduce
the environmental impact.
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Case Study: TOOL TO CALCULATE THE CARBON FOOTPRINT AND EMBEDDED ENERGY OF URBAN PROJECTS by G&C
This project is a step forward in the
trajectory of G&C. Sustainability has
been, and still is, a landmark in the
way this company works. But perhaps
this project has helped to better
understand the weight that the
embedded energy and carbon
footprint have in the different
constructing solutions and to take a
step further in the areas of bioclimatic
designing and sustainability criteria.
Evaluation of
the project
Economic
feasibility:
expected ROI
and payback
periods
The economic impact linked to the development of the tool has been minimal. However, the motivation has been
exclusively environmental, because of the company’s commitment with sustainability.
The investment in the project has been in terms of time and human resources and therefore the costs are inherent
to G & C Architects’ activity.
Marta González Cavia
Coach:
Ana Belén de Isla. LKS INGENIERIA
LCiP Project: Eugenia Atin
LC Champion: Olatz Errazkin
LCiP website:
www.lifelcip.eu
Planned follow
up activities G&C is now going to use this tool in all urban
projects. The tool will help decide which are
the activities and materials which have less
impact on the environment, and therefore
G&C Arquitectos will be in a position to make
better decisions.
For public tenders where environmental
criteria can give advantages to the most
sustainable projects, G&C can now make a
difference by applying the LC approaches to
the projects they submit.
Links and
contacts for
further
information
This project has been funded with support from the LIFE+ Programme of the EU. The views expressed here
are purely the authors’ own and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made
of the information contained herein.
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