System Dynamics Framework to Study the Effect of Material Performance on a Building’s Lifecycle Energy Requirements

TLDR

The building sector consumes nearly 41 % of U.S. primary energy, yet existing lifecycle analysis tools mainly address material selection and construction, leaving a gap for monitoring how building systems, material deterioration, and occupant behavior affect energy use during the use and maintenance phase. The study proposes a lifecycle energy monitoring framework that couples LCA and energy simulation analysis to track and control energy requirements throughout a building’s lifecycle. This framework employs a system dynamics modeling approach to create a distributed simulation platform that integrates LCA and energy simulation.

Abstract

The buildings sector accounts for nearly 41% of the United States’ primary energy usage. Various lifecycle analysis (LCA)-based tools are available for facilitating sustainable material selection and energy usage estimation, especially during the material production and construction phases of a building. However, for the use and maintenance phase, there is a lack of a comprehensive framework that can monitor and quantify the effects of various factors such as building system and material deterioration and dynamic occupant behavior patterns on the energy consumption. This research propose a lifecycle energy monitoring framework that couples LCA and energy simulation analysis using a system dynamics modeling framework to enable a distributed simulation platform that can monitor and control the energy requirements during all phases of a building’s lifecycle. Experimental results indicate that the proposed framework can help understand the optimal maintenance and replacement period of major building materials, thereby providing options for limiting the overall energy usage and environmental impacts from a building during its entire lifecycle.