Computational Analysis of the Environmental Impact of Building Designs

Concem for the environmental implications of human activities is becoming increasingly important to society. The concept of current development that does not compromise future generations! abilities to meet their needs is a goal for many communities and individuals (WCED 1987). These concerns require the evaluation and assessment of the potential environmental impact of human activities so that informed choices can be made. Building construction and operation activities are of significant importance in view of a) national and intemational economies, 6) resource consumption, c) human occupancy, and d) environmental impact. For example, in the United States the built environment represents an extensive investment, both as an annual expenditure and as an aggregate investment. In the mid-1980's, up to 30% of new and remodeled buildings had indoor air quality related complaints. Buildings also consume approximately 35% of the primary energy in the U.S. every year, resulting in the release of 482 million metric tons of carbon in 1993. I Methods developed to assess the environmental impact of buildings and development patterns can and have taken multiple strategies. The most straightforward and simple methods use single factors, such as energy use or the mass of pollutant emissions as indicators of environmental performance. Other methods use categorization and weighting strategies. These gauge the effects of the emissions typically based on research studies and use a weighting or effect formulation to normalize, compare, and group emissions so that a scalar value can be assigned to a single or a set of emissions. These methods do not consider the characteristics of the context where the emissions occur.