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Component-level embodied carbon database for landscape hard works in Taiwan

DOI:10.1007/s10668-021-01640-5
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Hsien-Te Lin
Hsien-Te Lin
Hsien-Te Lin
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Yi-Jiung Lin at Fooyin University
Yi-Jiung Lin
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Abstract and Figures

Facing the escalating crisis of global warming, life cycle assessment (LCA) for carbon footprint has recently seen rapid development in the building and construction sector. However, the landscaping field has lagged behind the general trend within this broad sector due to the lack of applicable carbon databases. In order to overcome this obstacle, the purpose of this study is to establish a localized carbon database, L-LCC, for Taiwan's landscaping industry based on the ABRI-LCC database and according to EN15978 "cradle to handover" boundary. A critical bottleneck exists in landscaping carbon LCA, which is a dilemma between handicapping complexity in the inventory calculation of construction machinery carbon in landscaping and its mandatory requirement by EN15978. To resolve this, a carbon analysis methodology, adopting a standardized landscape component system and construction process method, is introduced in this study to incorporate construction machinery carbon into an existing component-level carbon database so as to omit complicated inventory calculations. The result shows that the L-LCC database is not on the raw material level, but rather on the higher level of hard landscaping components, e.g. roadways, paving, pond, retaining walls, etc. Such a component-based carbon database exempts users from the cumbersome compilation of raw material data and, instead, directly uses simplified component carbon data to achieve the same results. Landscape project application in carbon reduction design verified this assessment system and the calculation on carbon emissions can be done quickly. The reduction of carbon emissions is 60.3% on the comparison of the traditional and natural construction methods. Consequently, carbon hotspots may be diagnosed and carbon-cutting design may be executed more efficiently in landscaping projects in conclusions.
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Vol:.(1234567890)
Environment, Development and Sustainability (2022) 24:4918–4941
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01640-5
1 3
Component‑level embodied carbon database forlandscape
hard works inTaiwan
Hsien‑TeLin1· Yi‑JiungLin2
Received: 25 June 2020 / Accepted: 1 July 2021 / Published online: 17 July 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
Facing the escalating crisis of global warming, life cycle assessment (LCA) for carbon
footprint has recently seen rapid development in the building and construction sector. How-
ever, the landscaping field has lagged behind the general trend within this broad sector due
to the lack of applicable carbon databases. In order to overcome this obstacle, the purpose
of this study is to establish a localized carbon database, L-LCC, for Taiwan’s landscaping
industry based on the ABRI-LCC database and according to EN15978 "cradle to hando-
ver" boundary. A critical bottleneck exists in landscaping carbon LCA, which is a dilemma
between handicapping complexity in the inventory calculation of construction machinery
carbon in landscaping and its mandatory requirement by EN15978. To resolve this, a car-
bon analysis methodology, adopting a standardized landscape component system and con-
struction process method, is introduced in this study to incorporate construction machinery
carbon into an existing component-level carbon database so as to omit complicated inven-
tory calculations. The result shows that the L-LCC database is not on the raw material
level, but rather on the higher level of hard landscaping components, e.g. roadways, paving,
pond, retaining walls, etc. Such a component-based carbon database exempts users from
the cumbersome compilation of raw material data and, instead, directly uses simplified
component carbon data to achieve the same results. Landscape project application in car-
bon reduction design verified this assessment system and the calculation on carbon emis-
sions can be done quickly. The reduction of carbon emissions is 60.3% on the comparison
of the traditional and natural construction methods. Consequently, carbon hotspots may be
diagnosed and carbon-cutting design may be executed more efficiently in landscaping pro-
jects in conclusions.
Keywords Landscape hard work· Life cycle assessment· Embodied carbon· ABRI-LCC·
Construction carbon
* Yi-Jiung Lin
eugenialin399@gmail.com
1 Department ofArchitecture, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
2 Department ofEnvironmental Engineering andScience, Fooyin University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... However, these campaigns still focus on buildings and do not always apply to green infrastructure and the landscape. Lin confirms that "there are currently no international calculation guidelines for carbon footprint exclusive to landscape, [and therefore] it is reasonable to assume that any landscaping LCA should follow EN15978" [22]. It is also stated that the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology originates from the ISO 14040 [23], and the first embodied carbon (EC) methodological studies appeared in ISO 21931 [24], but this does not address the lack of information in landscape architecture and spatial strategies, highlighting the need to develop guideline policies, as well as tools with a focus on landscape-generated embodied carbon. ...
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