Embodied carbon of brick external walls

[tim.pols570]

Hi all. I'd like to set up energy and carbon comparisons for various building materials. I don't need it to be too precise, more of a proof-of-concept kind of thing, but I've found weird data in my testing for brick walls.

I've tried a few different types of brick walls and their embodied carbon seems extremely high: 500-600 tons for a 4 bedroom house, compared to SIPs that sit around 7.5 tons for the same house. 

Looking closer at the data in Insight, the energy intesity of the brick layer of the wall sits around 3000 kgs per square meter and this is largely causing the high overall value.

I've done some basic research but not found anything that explaines the size of that difference. I would imagine, if these figures are accurate, that the smaller embodied carbon of a material like SIPs would be a huge selling point.

In anyone's experience, is this accurate, and if so where could i find information on the huge energy intesity of producing bricks?

[corina.marinesc]

Hi Tim,

Thank you for getting in touch.

To better assist you, could you please share the file so that we ca investigate how you are setting up the Brick materials in Revit?

In the meantime, here's a brief explanation of how you can customize the Brick material parameters:
If you're utilizing the detailed energy analytical model, you can modify the Brick density in the Revit Material Browser under the Thermal Asset tab. This allows you to tailor the analysis based on different types of bricks. Additionally, you can edit the thermal conductivity and other material parameters.

Looking forward to your reply 
Corina

[tim.pols570]

Thanks for the reply!

Here's one example that is giving embodied carbon value for external single leaf brick wall of 560 tons. 

I should also have mentioned I'm have not checked 'detailed elements' in the energy setting before creating the energy model so as I understand it, the analysis should be using the wall type and thermal properties from the schematic types in the advanced energy settings. This appears to have worked consistently across around 10-12 test energy models, but gives unusual results for walls with brick.

I've also attached a screen snip of the insight embodied carbon details showing the unusual value.

I'm a teacher of high school students and given student low skill levels and our time restrictions, I would really like to keep our adjustments limited to the schematic types rather than detailed elements. For what I do about achitectural material properties with my students the shift to the new insight has a much more labour intensive workflow comparing multiple material options for say walls for example.

Thanks again! looking forward to your reply.

[corina.marinesc · Accepted solution]

Hi there!

I've taken a close look at the issue, and it turns out it's not the density causing the problem (for instance, face bricks can typically have densities ranging from 1922.22 to 2402.78 kg/m³). The real issue lies with EC3 Building Transparency, and we're looking for a solution.

In the meantime, I recommend you create an EC Definition using these help steps and input 0.269 kgCO2e/kg or any other embodied carbon data that you see fit for the exercise (here's a suggestion). Since custom added EC data is available per user, each student should follow the steps provided.

Thanks for your patience, and we're here to help!

LE: In the Energy settings in Revit, please change the mode to "Conceptual Masses and Building Elements" or "Rooms and Spaces" because what you had selected "Use Building Elements" is no longer supported and will not display any energy results in Insight. 

[tim.pols570]

Hi Conrina

Thank you! I've changed the EC coefficient as described and the data looks great now. Thank you for the provided value too. I would not have known what to choose.

Hope you find a solution soon!