Dunant Cyrille F
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2024 Dec 2;382(2284):20230238. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2023.0238. Epub 2024 Nov 4.
Today, carbon and cost-efficient construction are well matched. However, in the future, as steel production is increasingly done from recycled scrap in electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and concrete mix design is improved, the current balance of CO impacts and costs can be altered. When this happens, structural designers need to update their design strategies, and incentives must be put in place to retain the alignment between environmental impact and cost. Here, I assess the potential of carbon taxation to improve the structural design. I also assess the discrepancy in embodied carbon outcomes if construction costs remain constant, but the embodied carbon of materials is varied. Finally, I look at the effect of an early-stage design tool, PANDA, on embodied carbon outcomes of real projects. I find that carbon taxes need to be extremely high to have an effect, and that this effect is limited to certain types of frames. Embodied carbon in construction can become disconnected from costs if the embodied carbon of materials varies heterogeneously. Finally, novel design tools can help designers substantially improve the embodied carbon of their design. This happens despite the absence of a significant monetary incentive to that effect.This article is part of the discussion meeting issue 'Sustainable metals: science and systems'.
如今，碳与成本效益高的建筑结构配合良好。然而，未来随着电弧炉（EAFs）越来越多地利用回收废料生产钢材以及混凝土配合比设计得到改进，当前二氧化碳影响与成本之间的平衡可能会改变。当这种情况发生时，结构设计师需要更新他们的设计策略，并且必须出台激励措施以保持环境影响与成本之间的一致性。在此，我评估碳税对改进结构设计的潜力。我还评估了在建筑成本保持不变但材料内含碳量不同的情况下，内含碳结果的差异。最后，我研究了一种早期设计工具PANDA对实际项目内含碳结果的影响。我发现碳税需要极高才能产生效果，而且这种效果仅限于某些类型的框架。如果材料的内含碳量不均匀变化，建筑中的内含碳可能会与成本脱节。最后，新颖的设计工具可以帮助设计师大幅降低其设计中的内含碳量。即便没有显著的金钱激励措施，这种情况依然会发生。本文是“可持续金属：科学与系统”讨论会议专题的一部分。
