RAISING EMBODIED CARBON MANAGEMENT USING BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM) IN SINGAPORE: A DEVELOPER �S PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The construction sector is deemed to be one of the major contributors to climate change due to the massive amount of carbon emitted. In view of raising embodied carbon management in the local construction sector, the Government has been implementing and reformulating greener building codes and promoting Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption in order to achieve a sustainable built environment in Singapore. Besides placing emphasis on operational carbon, the Government also focuses on minimizing embodied carbon in materials during the construction phase. BIM is widely used in the construction sector to design energy efficient buildings with its ability to evaluate building energy performance during the design phase; such as energy efficiency of building systems which will help to reduce operational carbon of building. However, there is an inadequacy in tools to measure and track embodied carbon emissions in building materials. This study focuses on examining whether the adoption of BIM will help to compute embodied carbon emissions of building materials and improve management of embodied carbon footprint of building. Thereafter, to better manage embodied carbon in building materials, a framework is proposed to assist developers to monitor their buildings’ embodied carbon footprint during the design phase. Finally, the proposed framework will be applied on a case study to validate its feasibility.