Comparative Study on Life-Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint of Hybrid, Concrete and Timber Apartment Buildings in Finland

Comparative life cycle assessment of light frame timber and reinforced concrete masonry structural systems for single-family houses in Luxembourg

The building sector's significant greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption present added challenges to meeting European climate commitments amidst rapid population growth. In Luxembourg, single-family houses dominate the residential buildings, noticeably contributing to construction waste and CO2 emissions. This study compares the environmental impacts of a three-story reinforced concrete masonry single-family house and an identical timber building in Luxembourg, emphasizing greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment was conducted using Building Information Modelling (BIM) models to analyze the global warming potential and primary energy requirements. Environmental product declarations from the producers and the ÖKOBAUDAT German database were used to determine the environmental impacts of the materials. The results show that the timber building outperforms the concrete building with a 43.5% lower global warming potential, while the concrete building demonstrates a 15.6% reduction in primary energy demand. This aligns with the average outcomes of seven similar studies discussed in this paper, at 33.2% and 4.7%, respectively. Moreover, the timber building is 78.6% lighter than the concrete one. When evaluating benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, the timber building provides 3.6 and 4 times greater advantages in terms of global warming potential and primary energy, respectively, compared to the reinforced concrete masonry building. Additionally, the study explores the impact of reusing the floors in the timber building. The cradle-to-grave LCA reveals that reusing the timber slabs improves the building's global warming potential and primary energy by 2.4% and 1.2%, respectively. However, when considering the benefits and loads beyond the system boundary, floor system reuse exhibits a 38.9% surge in global warming advantages while reducing primary energy benefits by 28.1%. The findings advocate for a policy promoting timber construction and reuse in Luxembourg, aiming to achieve the net-zero emission target by 2050.

Carbon emissions of power transmission and transformation projects in the whole life cycle for smart sustainable energy systems

The study investigates the optimization of life cycle carbon emissions in smart sustainable energy systems through power transformation and transmission project power load predictions. Firstly, a multi-task learning-based short-term user load forecasting technique is developed, where the power load curves of multiple residential customers are grouped and classified using the K-means clustering method. Additionally, the Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) technique is introduced to anticipate the power load intelligently. Secondly, a life cycle carbon emission assessment model for the power transmission and transformation project (PTTP) is constructed based on the life cycle assessment (LCA) method, which divides the project's life cycle into four stages: production, installation and construction, operation and maintenance, and demolition. Finally, an experimental evaluation of this model is conducted. The results demonstrate that compared with the baseline model Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), this model achieves a significantly lower average Mean Absolute Error (MAE) at 3.62% while achieving significantly higher accuracy in power load forecasting at 94.34%. A comprehensive examination of carbon emissions across all four phases reveals that overall carbon emissions are highest during the operation and maintenance stage followed by the equipment production stage and installation/construction stage, with the lowest overall carbon emissions observed. Hence, this study endeavors to forecast power load demand with precision and identify the principal determinants of carbon emissions in power engineering. By discerning and managing these key factors, an optimal, energy-efficient intelligent power load scheme can be derived.

Wood Preservation Practices and Future Outlook: Perspectives of Experts from Finland

This paper examined wood preservation practices and outlook considering climate change from the perspective of Finnish experts through interviews. Key findings highlighted that: (1) pressure impregnated wood will continually evolve and secure its market, and it seems worthy of developing modified wood products, especially with the increasing attention to recyclability and lifecycle concepts; (2) demand for highly processed surface treatment products is high; (3) opportunities for more sustainable and environmentally friendly wood preservation methods, and thus production volume will increase in the future; (4) increasing mold problems in Finland due to climate change make surface treatment more important than ever; (5) demands for fire protection treatments are increasing, but fire testing fees and processes have slowed product development; (6) although the possibility of the spread of termites triggered by global warming to Finland seems to be a future scenario, this issue needs to be considered in products exported to hot countries; and (7) preservatives have become more critical to protect untreated wood from the adverse effects of climate change. It is believed that this study will help accelerate the transition of innovative and environmentally friendly wood treatments on the Finnish market, thereby promoting the use of wood in the building construction industry.

The Current State of the Finnish Cottage Phenomenon: Perspectives of Experts

To date, studies that provide a comprehensive understanding of the current state of the cottage in Finland are lacking in the literature. This paper explored this phenomenon, which has great cultural and economic importance for Finland, through interviews from the perspective of experts. Key findings based on main themes including cottage buyers, characteristics of the dream cottage, diversified cottages, the regulation of cottages in municipalities, and challenges in the regulation of cottages, highlighted that: (1) cottage buyers were reported to be mostly in their 50s and wealthy; (2) buyers were in high demand for easy solutions and cottages with a similar level of equipment to a primary home; (3) environmental issues were considered interesting, but buyers primarily paid attention to the cleanliness of the nature and especially the body of water surrounding their cottage; (4) distance to the cottage and closest services were deciding factors, and there was greater demand for waterfront cottages; (5) popular cottage sizes varied widely, and the diversification was among the highlights; (6) while changes in use were possible under certain circumstances, sewage and wastewater regulation, and sizing of beach construction were considered challenging. It is believed that this paper will contribute to the balanced territorial development of cottages in Finland and the vitality of cottage-rich municipalities.