DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY OF A CARBON NEUTRAL BUILDING

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in pursuing the development of more sustainable buildings such as zero-carbon development, also known as Carbon Neutral Building. As the world endeavors to move towards sustainability, Singapore’s carbon emission reduction development is also an important area of research as we drive towards reduced carbon emission. For this purpose, a study was conducted to assess the strategy of zero-carbon building development and carbon emission of the first Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in Singapore, which is called ZEB@BCA Academy. Some of the key findings of the study are given as follows: • Using Autodesk® Revit® software and the carbon calculator developed by the department of Architecture at National University of Singapore (NUS). This study has revealed that ZEB@BCA Academy emitted 2,691 tons kg- CO2 during the 12 month period from 1st September 2011 to 30th August 2012. • This carbon footprint maybe traced to two major areas, that is 93% embodied carbon and 7% operation carbon. Nevertheless, the amount of carbon emitted by embodied carbon was found to be higher as compared to operational carbon. • The top three embodied carbon materials that released the most carbon were found to be Aluminum (42%), Steel bar (28%) and Concrete (23%) accordingly. Through describing the process of how buildings could sustain carbon neutrality throughout its life cycle, the study also shows the basic framework of carbon neutral development and set the perimeter for carbon footprint measurement. In view of these findings, reduction in carbon emission in future building development in Singapore can be achieved through formulating a common carbon neutral development framework and improvement to the existing Green Mark Scheme as detailed in the study.