Measuring Lifecycle Carbon Footprint of a Case Study in Mexico

Over the last decades, a great intention of the world has been to manage the global warming in a way less damaging to the human life on the Earth. Hence, the building sector is significantly responsible for the carbon emissions of which can support the disaster. Thus, the prospective Building Lifecycle Assessment (BLCA) methodologies have been adopted in several software tools to model and simulate the buildings before construction, in order to reduce carbon emissions during the implementation process. However, the results of these methodologies are not as efficient, user-friendly, precise and localised to benefit both the building design and decision making processes. The paper presents a new BLCA methodology developed in the University of Sheffield (UK), and its application to a case study in Mexico. The main aim of the study is to test the previously introduced methodology by adapting other local programmes and standards. The particular focus of calculation in this study is ‘Carbon’ (embodied carbon, services-life carbon and total carbon). The Methodology calculates the carbon footprint during the BLCA in a more accurate system by the use of flexible and updatable carbon inventories. It also benefits from a programme developed by incorporating ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’ to Latin America in order to calculate carbon dioxide emissions during the service-life of building in three geographical scenarios. The results reveal the efficiency of the new BLCA methodology and its aptitude of adaptation with the local programmes to calculate buildings’ carbon footprint. Moreover, it highlights the advantages such as sensitivity and credibility of the outputs in comparison with the existing BLCA tools. This attitude and methodology can be applied to design and decision making in the construction sector.