M10 AM Building Life-Cycle Capacity in the Greening of Buildings and Construction Consideration
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 341-342

(SHA-1117-566210) Construction Site Environmental and Economic Impacts: On-site Energy and Electricity Demand, Consumption, and Generation.

Sharrard, A.¹, Matthews, H.S.^{1, 2}, Roth, M.³, Ries, R.⁴, ¹ Department of Civil and Evironmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States² Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States³ Department of Economics, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, United States⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States

ABSTRACT- The construction industry creates significant environmental impacts, partly due to its large energy consumption; related hybrid life cycle assessment research on the construction process indicates that on-site use and generation of energy is an important issue. "On-site construction energy" includes equipment fuel use, on-site energy generation, and on-site use of grid electricity. However, due to the decentralized nature of construction and subcontracting activities understanding of the construction industry's energy consumption is limited. Because the industry has been relatively unregulated in the past, it has great potential for change that would benefit the environment while not sacrificing productivity. Energy on a construction site is usually provided by diesel fuel, electricity, and natural gas; diesel fuel and electricity are responsible for the greatest total air emissions. This research will look at on-site energy usage data collected for several types of construction sites, including both traditional and LEED-registered sites. Previous work developed a refined inventory of construction energy use at a sector level from existing EPA, DOE, and DOC estimates. Here, site-specific survey data for on-site energy use will be compared to national-level data in terms of use, emissions, and potential reduction under the EPA's 2004 Clean Air Nonroad Diesel Rule. A prior case study about on-site energy generation, which could produce fewer life cycle air emissions than the electricity grid if fully implemented, will be discussed in relation to specific sites. Modifications of existing estimation methods for total and temporary site energy demand and usage will also be recommended. Given the dearth of current use profiles and the difficulties associated with tracking and quantifying on-site energy use, this study is an important first step in specifically assessing construction site energy use, demand, and generation. The future inclusion of this data into a hybrid LCA framework will also be discussed.

Key words: construction, energy, life cycle assessment, environmental impact