Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications

Permanent URI for this collection

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The effect of increased water prices on the Australian construction industry
    McCormack, M ; Treloar, G ; Crawford, RH ; Fay, R (University of Adelaide, 2006)
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    A comprehensive framework for assessing the life cycle energy of building construction assemblies
    Crawford, RH ; Czerniakowski, I ; Fuller, RJ (Australian and New Zealand Architectural Science Association, 2009)
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Life cycle energy of steel and concrete framed commercial buildings
    Ngo, T ; Mirza, M ; Gammampila, G ; Aye, L ; Crawford, RH ; Mendis, P (James Cook University of North Queensland, 2009)
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Embodied energy analysis of prefabricated reusable building modules for a multi-residential building
    Ngo, T ; Crawford, RH ; Gammampila, G ; Aye, L ; Mendis, P (James Cook University of North Queensland, 2009)
  • Item
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    An assessment of the energy and water embodied in commercial building construction
    Crawford, RH ; Treloar, G (Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society, 2005)
  • Item
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The path exchange method for hybrid LCA
    Lenzen, M ; Crawford, RH (American Chemical Society, 2009)
    Hybrid techniques for Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) provide a way of combining the accuracy of process analysis and the completeness of input-output analysis. A number of methods have been suggested to implement a hybrid LCA in practice, with the main challenge being the integration of specific process data with an overarching input-output system. In this work we present a new hybrid LCA method which works at the finest input-output level of detail: structural paths. This new Path Exchange method avoids double-counting and system disturbance just as previous hybrid LCA methods, but instead of a large LCA database it requires only a minimum of external information on those structural paths that are to be represented by process data.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Greenhouse gas emissions embodied in reinforced concrete and timber railway sleepers
    Crawford, RH (American Chemical Society, 2009)
    In Australia, there are currently two main materials used for railway sleepers: timber (river red gum, a species of eucalypt) and reinforced concrete. Within the state of Victoria alone, there are currently seven million railway sleepers that make up the rail network. It is estimated that around two million sleepers, or 29%, are presently required to replace timber sleepers and upgrade the entire network, for which there are significant environmental implications, such as the emission of greenhouse gases. These emissions are mainly as a result of the energy and other resources required or "embodied" through the sleeper manufacture, including those associated with harvesting timber and mining raw materials for manufacturing cement. Where alternatives are readily available, it is important that the environmental impacts of the various choices are assessed, ensuring that these impacts are minimized. This study aimed to assess the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions associated with timber and reinforced concrete railway sleepers and showed that the life cycle emissions of reinforced concrete sleepers were up to six times less than the emissions associated with timber sleepers. Taking the potential errors associated with this type of assessment into account, there appearsto be a significant advantage in using reinforced concrete sleepers, in terms of reducing the life cycle emissions associated with the provision of railway sleepers.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Validation of a hybrid life-cycle inventory analysis method
    Crawford, RH (Elsevier, 2008)
    The life-cycle inventory analysis step of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) may currently suffer from several limitations, mainly concerned with the use of incomplete and unreliable data sources and methods of assessment. Many past LCA studies have used traditional inventory analysis methods, namely process analysis and input-output analysis. More recently, hybrid inventory analysis methods have been developed, combining these two traditional methods in an attempt to minimise their limitations. In light of recent improvements, these hybrid methods need to be compared and validated, as these too have been considered to have several limitations. This paper evaluates a recently developed hybrid inventory analysis method which aims to improve the limitations of previous methods. It was found that the truncation associated with process analysis can be up to 87%, reflecting the considerable shortcomings in the quantity of process data currently available. Capital inputs were found to account for up to 22% of the total inputs to a particular product. These findings suggest that current best-practice methods are sufficiently accurate for most typical applications, but this is heavily dependent upon data quality and availability. The use of input-output data assists in improving the system boundary completeness of life-cycle inventories. However, the use of input-output analysis alone does not always provide an accurate model for replacing process data. Further improvements in the quantity of process data currently available are needed to increase the reliability of life-cycle inventories.