Accounting Greenhouse Gas (GHG)

Emissions in Building Design: A White Paper

on the GHG Emissions Timeline (GET)

October 4, 2022

Authors:
Valeria Piccioni, Linus Walker, Esther Borkowski, Illias Hischier, and Arno Schlueter

1
GHG Emissions
GHG Emissions by Gas

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Methane (CH4)

74.4% 17.3%

Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (2020). CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Published online Nitrous Oxide (N4O)
at OurWorldInData.org.
6.2%
F-Gases (HFCs, CFCs, SF6)
2.1%
ØDifferent gases have different global warming potentials
ØCarbon dioxide equivalent (CO2-eq) makes the effect of different gases
comparable (e.g. 1 kg methane ≈ 25 kg CO2-eq)

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Embodied vs. Operational Emissions

Embodied Emissions Operational Emissions

The emissions from manufacturing, The emissions from a building’s energy
transportation, installation and disposal consumption.
of building materials.

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Carbon Intensity of Electricity

4
Why GHG Emissions Accounting Matters
• Buildings account for 37% of
energy-related global CO2
emissions:
• 27% from operational emissions
• 10% from embodied emissions

United Nations Environment Programme (2021). 2021 Global Status Report for Buildings and
Construction: Towards a Zero-emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector.

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Impact of Built Environment by 2050

World population: Global building stock: Upfront carbon:

10 billion x2 Responsible for 50% of entire
carbon footprint of new
buildings

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World Green Building Council’s 2050 Vision
• New buildings, infrastructure, and renovations must be net zero
embodied emissions.
• All buildings, including existing buildings, must be net zero
operational emissions.

ØEU and IPCC have similar visions

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Emission Reduction Potential

World Green Building Council (2019). Bringing embodied carbon upfront: Coordinated action for
the building and construction sector to tackle embodied carbon.

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Life Cycle Stages – Overview
According to EN 15804

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage
Process Stage the System
Boundary
Raw Material Supply and Production of Transport Use Deconstruction/ Reuse-
Building Products Demolition Recovery-
Construction Maintenance
Recycling-
Transport Process Transport
Repair Potential
Manufacturing Waste Processing
Replacement
Disposal
Refurbishment
Operational
Energy Use
Operational 9
Water Use
Life Cycle Principles

Cradle Gate Site Grave

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage
Process Stage the System
Boundary

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Net-Zero and LCA
• The concept of net-zero emissions and the single number indicator
for LCA can lead to misunderstandings:
A large PV roof can ‘numerically’ offset embodied emissions of a
newly built concrete building, turning it into a ‘net-zero emissions
building’ without capturing a single molecule of CO2.

ØIt is important to understand the evolution of GHG emissions over

time to identify critical parameters in the climate emergency state.

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System Boundaries
Electricity Grid

Operational Impact
Extended Boundary

Building Boundary

Reuse Embodied Impact

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Life Cycle Stages
Upfront Emissions in kgCO2-eq/m2
Operational Emissions in kgCO2-eq/(m2a)
Stored Biogenic Carbon in kgC/m2
End-of-Life Emissions in kgCO2-eq/m2

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 Life Cycle Stages – Upfront GHG Emissions
• Occur during production of components
• Are emitted into atmosphere before building is put into operation
• Are normalized to the energy reference area or usable floor area
• Can regionally differ depending on energy mix and production methods

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use stage the System
Process Stage
Location- Boundary

Dependent Raw Material Supply and Production of Transport Use Deconstruction/ Reuse-
Building Products Demolition Recovery-
Construction Maintenance
Transport Process Transport Recycling-
Repair Potential
Manufacturing Replacement Waste Processing

Refurbishment Disposal

Operational
Energy Use
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Operational
Water Use
Reuse Potential
• Reused components are associated with lower upfront emissions
(transportation only)
• Not included in end-of-life analysis to avoid double counting

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage
Process Stage the System
Boundary

Reuse
Recycle/Recovery

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Life Cycle Stages – Operational Emissions
• Occur due to use of energy sources that cause emissions during conversion
• Are calculated for the first year of operation, so that future changes in the system
are not taken into account

Benefits and
Construction End-of-life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage the System
Process Stage
Boundary

Raw Material Supply and Production of Transport Use Deconstruction/ Reuse-

Building Products Demolition Recovery-
Construction Maintenance
Transport Process Transport Recycling-
Repair Potential
Manufacturing Replacement Waste Processing
Disposal
Refurbishment
Operational
Energy Use
Operational 16
Water Use
Life Cycle Stages – Stored Biogenic Carbon
• Carbon in biogenic materials that has been extracted from the atmosphere by
plant growth and is not re-emitted again for the time it is stored
Stored Biogenic
Carbon

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage the System
Process Stage
Boundary

Raw Material Supply and Production of Transport Use Deconstruction/ Reuse-

Building Products Demolition Recovery-
Construction Maintenance
Transport Process Transport Recycling-
Repair Potential
Manufacturing Replacement Waste Processing
Disposal
Refurbishment
Operational
Energy Use
Operational 17
Water Use
Life Cycle Stages – End-of-Life Emissions
• Occur when the building is deconstructed, and the materials are disposed of
• Are subject to great uncertainty as they are far in the future

Benefits and
Construction End-of-Life Loads Beyond
Product Stage Use Stage the System
Process Stage
Boundary

Raw Material Supply and Production of Transport Use Deconstruction/ Reuse-

Building Products Demolition Recovery-
Construction Maintenance
Transport Process Transport Recycling-
Repair Potential
Manufacturing Replacement Waste Processing
Disposal
Refurbishment
Operational
Energy Use
Operational 18
Water Use
How to Calculate

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Where to Find Data
KBOB ökobaudat
Latest version 2022 2021
Organization Swiss Federal Office of Energy Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban
Development and Building
Country Switzerland Germany
Cost Free of charge Free of charge

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Available Tools
• KBOB Excel tool
• Ökobaudat online tool
• BOMBYX (connects with KBOB)
• Simapro
• One Click LCA
• OpenLCA
• Brightway

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PV Allocation
• Electricity generated on site can be fed into the power grid.
• The embodied emissions of the PV are allocated “pro rata” according to the
electrical energy consumption
• The production of PV electricity can have benefits outside the system boundary

SC

1-SC

SC

1-SC

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Discussing Net-Zero
• GHGs released into the atmosphere are offset by removal from the
atmosphere (Paris Agreement: Net-Zero by 2050)
• For buildings, this means that embodied and operational emissions are
offset, but:
• this can only be achieved by considering expanded analysis boundaries and by
relying on decarbonization predictions,
• the implementation of long-term carbon storage and capture is not currently
reliable due to with technical and economic challenges,
• carbon stored in biogenic materials cannot per se be counted as “negative”
because it might be released at the end of the life cycle,
• accounting requires working with quantities of the same unit, which is not the
case for biogenic carbon in buildings, i.e. kgC/m2 ≠ kgCO2-eq/m2.

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Visualization
• Identification of hot-spots:
• Emissions per material
• Emissions per building element
• Emissions per building system
• Upfront vs. operational emissions
• Comparison of design options
• Temporal distributions

Adapted from Hollberg et al., 2021

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Visualization – GHG Emissions Timeline (GET)
Upfront Emissions in kgCO2-eq/m2
Operational Emissions in kgCO2-eq/(m2a)
Stored Biogenic Carbon in kgC/m2
End-of-life Emissions in kgCO2-eq/m2

Calculation
Assumption

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Conclusion
• Because of the impact of the built environment on the climate, it is
critical to quantify GHG emissions over the building life cycle,
especially upfront emissions.
• The interpretation of the time dependency of buildings, e.g., 100
years, is a sensitive area and keeps causing discussions.
• In combination with life cycle costing of buildings, emissions
accounting can save emissions as well as costs.

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Appendix – How to Use KBOB
and ökobaudat Databases

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Upfront GHG Emissions – KBOB

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Upfront GHG Emissions – ökobaudat

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Operational Emissions – KBOB

Before conversion

After conversion

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Stored Biogenic Carbon – KBOB

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Stored Biogenic Carbon – ökobaudat

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End-of-Life Emissions – KBOB

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End-of-Life Emissions – ökobaudat

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