Alice Moncaster's Outputs (65)

A practitioner’s introduction to LCA databases: EPiC and ICE (2024)
Digital Artefact

This short comparative review of two construction material databases explains their potential use for assessing embodied carbon to designers and practitioners not yet expert in the field. It introduces and examines the Australian Environmental Perfor... Read More about A practitioner’s introduction to LCA databases: EPiC and ICE.

RIBA Horizons 2034 The Environmental Challenge: Mitigating carbon emissions- global challenge and regional priorities (2024)
Digital Artefact

Now more than ever, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) Sixth Assessment Report clarifies the urgency of mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to reduce our impact on the global climate and avoid the worst predictions.... Read More about RIBA Horizons 2034 The Environmental Challenge: Mitigating carbon emissions- global challenge and regional priorities.

RIBA Horizons 2034 The Environmental Challenge: An Introduction (2024)
Digital Artefact

The environmental challenge facing us is both vast and urgent.

Use of energy and materials is increasing globally, greenhouse gas emissions are going up rather than down, the devastating impacts of climate change are already being suffered from su... Read More about RIBA Horizons 2034 The Environmental Challenge: An Introduction.

Globalised climate precarity: Environmental degradation, disasters and the international brick trade (2024)
Journal Article

Climate-linked disasters result when natural hazards meet socioeconomic precarity. Recognizing this, scholarship in recent years has emphasized how the precarity that turns climate-linked hazards into disasters is produced within the same global poli... Read More about Globalised climate precarity: Environmental degradation, disasters and the international brick trade.

Minimising embodied carbon: A question of politics, not percentages (2023)
Book Chapter

Embodied carbon (EC) has long been a thorny issue, for many years excluded from policy and regulation. Definitions of ‘zero carbon’ have been framed to include only operational impacts, encouraging improvements in energy efficiency but continuing to... Read More about Minimising embodied carbon: A question of politics, not percentages.

Embodied carbon and building retrofit (2023)
Book Chapter

There is a critical need to reduce energy and associated carbon emissions from the existing built environment to help mitigate climate change. This requires significant upscaling of energy retrofitting. However, at present, retrofit assessments commo... Read More about Embodied carbon and building retrofit.

Embodied emissions - knowledge building for industry (2023)
Book Chapter

A climate emergency has been declared and government, policymakers, industries, researchers and architects have tremendous potential to shift the entire industry towards a (net) zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-built environment. In particular, th... Read More about Embodied emissions - knowledge building for industry.

Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment (2023)
Book

This handbook explores the critically important topic of embodied carbon, providing advanced insights that focus on measuring and reducing embodied carbon from across the built environment, including buildings, urban areas and cities, and constructio... Read More about Routledge Handbook of Embodied Carbon in the Built Environment.

Why is Keir Starmer ignoring the concrete and steel elephant in the room? (2023)
Newspaper / Magazine

Keir Starmer has just announced that if Labour wins the election, they will build 1.5m homes in England, and that they will be prepared to ‘bulldoze’ any local opposition. These are persuasive numbers and statements – but who is he trying to impress?... Read More about Why is Keir Starmer ignoring the concrete and steel elephant in the room?.

Nature can cool cities, but proceed with caution (2023)
Journal Article

Increased extreme heat events draw attention to the potential of urban nature as a heat adaptation strategy for cities. This is reflected in multiple scientific perspective pieces, policy documents and science media publications advocating for urban... Read More about Nature can cool cities, but proceed with caution.

Demolition or retention of buildings: Drivers at the masterplan scale (2023)
Journal Article

Current adaptation theory tends to consider individual buildings or the city level, which cannot address decisions related to masterplan developments on large brownfield sites. This paper investigates the drivers for building demolition or retention... Read More about Demolition or retention of buildings: Drivers at the masterplan scale.

Demands, default options and definitions: How artefacts mediate sustainability in public housing projects in Sweden and Cyprus (2022)
Journal Article

Sustainable building design practices are influenced by requirements, guidelines, criteria for green procurement and certification, assessment tools such as life cycle assessment, etc. This study investigates how such artefacts support or define aspi... Read More about Demands, default options and definitions: How artefacts mediate sustainability in public housing projects in Sweden and Cyprus.

Embodied carbon, embodied energy and renewable energy: A review of Environmental Product Declarations (2022)
Journal Article

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) to EN 15804 provide information about embodied carbon of construction products - their life cycle greenhouse gas emissions - alongside reporting use of renewable and non-renewable primary energy and secondary... Read More about Embodied carbon, embodied energy and renewable energy: A review of Environmental Product Declarations.

Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 2: Are the messages accurate? (2022)
Journal Article

This paper is the second output of a project that examines the embodied greenhouse gas emissions (‘embodied carbon’) from the use of concrete in buildings. In the current absence of either regulation or widespread industry practice in quantified carb... Read More about Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 2: Are the messages accurate?.

Trading disaster: Containers and container thinking in the production of climate precarity (2022)
Journal Article

This paper examines how global trade shapes and intensifies disasters. Juxtaposing three basic, everyday consumer goods – a t-shirt, a brick, and a tea bag – with disasters manifesting in their respective global supply chains, it highlights how clima... Read More about Trading disaster: Containers and container thinking in the production of climate precarity.

Modelling Chinese urban residential stock turnover uncertainties using system dynamics and Bayesian statistical inference (2022)
Book Chapter

Building stock turnover is one of the key determinants in building energy modelling and policy analysis. Building lifetime is integral to the dynamics of stock turnover. However in China, despite anecdotal claims that urban residential buildings are... Read More about Modelling Chinese urban residential stock turnover uncertainties using system dynamics and Bayesian statistical inference.

Modelling future trends of annual embodied energy of urban residential building stock in China (2022)
Journal Article

China is the largest driver of growth in the global building sector. The longstanding construction boom across China has generated a massive flow of materials with significant associated embodied energy consumption and carbon emissions. Despite the s... Read More about Modelling future trends of annual embodied energy of urban residential building stock in China.

Retrofitting existing buildings (2021)
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Social value, infrastructure and stakeholder engagement: a complex triangle (2021)
Journal Article

Infrastructure is critical for the economic and social prosperity of society. Some large infrastructure projects are also critical for the future of society due to their intergenerational nature and long lifespan. Understanding the social value of in... Read More about Social value, infrastructure and stakeholder engagement: a complex triangle.

Retention not demolition: How heritage thinking can inform carbon reduction (2021)
Journal Article

Two key benefits of building retention and adaptation, over demolition and new build are identified in the academic literature as: the conservation of heritage, and reductions in embodied greenhouse gas emissions from construction materials. A four-y... Read More about Retention not demolition: How heritage thinking can inform carbon reduction.

Reducing carbon from heritage buildings: The importance of residents’ views, values and behaviours (2021)
Journal Article

Significant energy and carbon originate in the existing built environment and retrofit is therefore a key carbon reduction strategy. However heritage buildings -comprising around 20% of UK buildings- are challenging to retrofit appropriately due to t... Read More about Reducing carbon from heritage buildings: The importance of residents’ views, values and behaviours.

Rethinking retrofit of residential heritage buildings (2021)
Journal Article

What are the opportunities and challenges for upscaling the energy retrofit of heritage buildings? Heritage buildings comprise approximately 20% of the UK building stock and are challenging to retrofit sensitively because of their heritage values and... Read More about Rethinking retrofit of residential heritage buildings.

Circularity in the built environment? A call for a paradigm shift (2020)
Book Chapter

This chapter considers how circularity is being, and might be, approached and achieved within the built environment. Three case studies illustrate the current situation. The first case address life cycle assessment (LCA) in measuring circularity, sho... Read More about Circularity in the built environment? A call for a paradigm shift.

Developing a generic System Dynamics model for building stock transformation towards energy efficiency and low-carbon development (2020)
Journal Article

Promoting the decarbonisation of buildings requires effective policy measures. An integral part of policy design is ex-ante evaluation of possible policy options and effects. System Dynamics, one of a range of potential modelling paradigms, emphasise... Read More about Developing a generic System Dynamics model for building stock transformation towards energy efficiency and low-carbon development.

Forecasting urban residential stock turnover dynamics using system dynamics and Bayesian model averaging (2020)
Journal Article

Knowing the size of building stock is perhaps the most basic determinant in assessing energy use in buildings. However, official statistics on urban residential stock for many countries are piecemeal at best. Previous studies estimating stock size an... Read More about Forecasting urban residential stock turnover dynamics using system dynamics and Bayesian model averaging.

Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 1: Analysis of published EPD (2020)
Journal Article

Cement is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is predicted to grow with increasing development. The majority is used in concrete, globally the most common material in buildings. Reducing emissions from the use of cement and con... Read More about Embodied carbon of concrete in buildings, Part 1: Analysis of published EPD.

Comparative life cycle analysis of façade passive systems in the Mediterranean: Comfort, energy, and carbon (2019)
Journal Article

In the Mediterranean region façade shading systems are used to reduce operational energy, particularly cooling loads. However, operational savings do not necessarily translate into net energy savings unless they outweigh the embodied energy/carbon re... Read More about Comparative life cycle analysis of façade passive systems in the Mediterranean: Comfort, energy, and carbon.

Arguments for a co-production approach to community flood protection (2019)
Journal Article

With more intense rainfall and sea level rises predicted, an increasing number of people across the UK are vulnerable to flood events. The government has pledged more funding for flood infrastructure planning, design and management. However, schemes... Read More about Arguments for a co-production approach to community flood protection.

Estimating lifetimes and stock turnover dynamics of urban residential buildings in China (2019)
Journal Article

Building lifetime and stock turnover are both key determinants in modelling building energy and carbon. However in China, aside from anecdotal claims that urban residential buildings are generally short-lived, there are no recent official statistics,... Read More about Estimating lifetimes and stock turnover dynamics of urban residential buildings in China.

Widening understanding of low embodied impact buildings: Results and recommendations from 80 multi-national quantitative and qualitative case studies (2019)
Journal Article

This paper publishes the results from a major five year International Energy Agency research project which investigated the reduction of embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions over the whole life (‘cradle to grave’) of buildings. Annex 57 colla... Read More about Widening understanding of low embodied impact buildings: Results and recommendations from 80 multi-national quantitative and qualitative case studies.

Editorial: Gender and Intersectionality in Engineering (2019)
Journal Article

This Special Issue of the ?International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology? focuses on the issue of gender, and of how gender intersects with other aspects of diversity, in engineering. Published in 2019 in celebration of the 100th anniversar... Read More about Editorial: Gender and Intersectionality in Engineering.

BS 8001 and the built environment: A review and critique (2019)
Journal Article

The British Standards Institute has recently published the world?s first standard on the circular economy. The standard is intentionally broad and inclusive to suit all types of organisations and products. However, when it comes to complex products s... Read More about BS 8001 and the built environment: A review and critique.

Why method matters: Temporal, spatial and physical variations in LCA and their impact on choice of structural system (2018)
Journal Article

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly used as an early-stage design-decision tool to support choices of structural system. However LCA modellers must first make numerous methodological decisions, and the resultant wide variations in approach ar... Read More about Why method matters: Temporal, spatial and physical variations in LCA and their impact on choice of structural system.

Furthering embodied carbon assessment in practice: Results of an industry-academia collaborative research project (2018)
Journal Article

In order to meet the mid-century carbon reduction targets and to mitigate climate change and global warming it is imperative that embodied greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions in the built environment receive immediate attention from policy, industry an... Read More about Furthering embodied carbon assessment in practice: Results of an industry-academia collaborative research project.

Adaptation and demolition in a masterplan context (2018)
Book Chapter

This chapter explores the range of decisions and the reasons behind them when considering demolition and adaptation on a masterplan site in which multiple buildings are affected. It builds upon existing studies on adaptive reuse and demolition at an... Read More about Adaptation and demolition in a masterplan context.

Design and construction strategies for reducing embodied impacts from buildings – Case study analysis (2018)
Journal Article

The dominance of operational energy and related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of most existing buildings is decreasing in new construction, when primary fossil energy of building operation decreases as result of the implementation of energy efficien... Read More about Design and construction strategies for reducing embodied impacts from buildings – Case study analysis.

Embodied Carbon in Buildings: Measurement, Management, and Mitigation (2018)
Book

Embodied carbon is, to some extent, an odd beast. Its importance is evident and the beneficial consequences of its reduction undeniable. We know that the built envi- ronment is a major source of our carbon excesses, yet most policies focus only on pa... Read More about Embodied Carbon in Buildings: Measurement, Management, and Mitigation.

Embodied carbon measurement, mitigation and management within Europe, drawing on a cross-case analysis of 60 building case studies (2018)
Book Chapter

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the state of the art on this subject within Europe. In order to do so, it draws on a cross-case analysis of over 60 European case studies, developed and analysed by the authors as part of the Internat... Read More about Embodied carbon measurement, mitigation and management within Europe, drawing on a cross-case analysis of 60 building case studies.

How gender equality can help fix the construction industry (2018)
Digital Artefact

Analysing methodological choices in calculations of embodied energy and GHG emissions from buildings (2017)
Journal Article

The importance of embodied energy and embodied greenhouse gas emissions (EEG) from buildings is gaining increased interest within building sector initiatives and on a regulatory level. In spite of recent harmonisation efforts, reported results of EEG... Read More about Analysing methodological choices in calculations of embodied energy and GHG emissions from buildings.

Decision-making for the demolition or adaptation of buildings (2017)
Journal Article

This paper considers why the decision may be made either to demolish or adapt existing buildings on brownfield sites and compares real-life decisions to those produced by theoretical design-support tools. Five case studies, including three individual... Read More about Decision-making for the demolition or adaptation of buildings.

IEA EBC annex 57 ‘evaluation of embodied energy and CO2eq for building construction’ (2017)
Journal Article

The current regulations to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from buildings have focused on operational energy consumption. Thus legislation excludes measurement and reduction of the embodied energy and embodied GHG emissio... Read More about IEA EBC annex 57 ‘evaluation of embodied energy and CO2eq for building construction’.

Scrutinising embodied carbon in buildings: The next performance gap made manifest (2017)
Journal Article

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming increasingly mainstream as an early-stage design-decision tool for buildings. Still, there are considerable variations in how the method is currently used, leading to limitations in comparing the results and th... Read More about Scrutinising embodied carbon in buildings: The next performance gap made manifest.

Building Information Modelling, Building Performance, Design and Smart Construction (2017)
Book

Measuring embodied carbon dioxide equivalent of buildings: A review and critique of current industry practice (2017)
Journal Article

Lowering the embodied carbon dioxide equivalent (embodied CO2e) of buildings is an essential response to national and global targets for carbon reduction. Globally, construction industry is developing tools, databases and practices for measuring embo... Read More about Measuring embodied carbon dioxide equivalent of buildings: A review and critique of current industry practice.

Circular economy for the built environment: A research framework (2016)
Journal Article

The built environment puts major pressure on the natural environment; its role in transitioning to a circular economy (CE) is therefore fundamental. However, current CE research tends to focus either on the macro-scale, such as eco-parks, or the micr... Read More about Circular economy for the built environment: A research framework.

Embodied carbon mitigation and reduction in the built environment – What does the evidence say? (2016)
Journal Article

Of all industrial sectors, the built environment puts the most pressure on the natural environment, and in spite of significant efforts the International Energy Agency suggests that buildings-related emissions are on track to double by 2050. Whilst o... Read More about Embodied carbon mitigation and reduction in the built environment – What does the evidence say?.

Pathways to low carbon building: Reflection on the special issue (2015)
Journal Article

In 2014, this journal invited me to edit a special issue on low carbon building. We put out a call for papers that offered new perspectives, crossing boundaries between technical and social research approaches. The six papers selected and published h... Read More about Pathways to low carbon building: Reflection on the special issue.

Investigating the social value of the Ripon rivers flood alleviation scheme (2015)
Journal Article

This paper argues for an approach to flood alleviation design that considers the need not only for technical knowledge, but also a social perspective. It is predicted that more intense rainfall and rising sea levels will result in a greater number of... Read More about Investigating the social value of the Ripon rivers flood alleviation scheme.

Financing energy efficiency measures in buildings – A new method of appraisal (2015)
Journal Article

Our current generation strives to provide the next crucial stepping stone towards sustainable buildings, delivering energy efficiency measures without compromise in ways which are financially viable. Selecting and implementing simple energy efficienc... Read More about Financing energy efficiency measures in buildings – A new method of appraisal.

IEA EBC Annex 72 J: Understanding the impact of individual, industry & political decisions on transitions towards environmental sustainability
Report

There is a wealth of research and now data on greenhouse gas emissions from individual construction materials and components and from whole buildings (embodied impacts), and on their measurement through LCA. There is a general assumption that measuri... Read More about IEA EBC Annex 72 J: Understanding the impact of individual, industry & political decisions on transitions towards environmental sustainability.

The role of stakeholders in masterplan regeneration decisions
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Brownfield sites often contain existing buildings and during regeneration the decision to demolish or adapt them should consider sustainability principles. This paper discusses decision-making criteria obtained through a literature review and primary... Read More about The role of stakeholders in masterplan regeneration decisions.

The reporting of end of life and module D data and scenarios in EPD for building level life cycle assessment
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This paper identifies the need for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) to provide End of Life (EoL) and Module D data for products for use in building level Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Although the provision of data for EN 15804 Modules A4-D is... Read More about The reporting of end of life and module D data and scenarios in EPD for building level life cycle assessment.

Using an analysis of concrete and cement EPD: Verification, selection, assessment, benchmarking and target setting
Presentation / Conference Contribution

The carbon embodied in buildings is an important proportion of our emissions and needs to be radically reduced in order to support climate change mitigation. The highest proportion of embodied carbon is usually emitted during the product stage, and w... Read More about Using an analysis of concrete and cement EPD: Verification, selection, assessment, benchmarking and target setting.

Considering embodied energy and carbon in heritage buildings – A review
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Approximately 20% of UK buildings can be defined as ‘heritage buildings’, offering unique values that should be preserved. They tend to use more energy than newer buildings, creating a strong case for energy retrofits to reduce energy use, greenhouse... Read More about Considering embodied energy and carbon in heritage buildings – A review.

Is it all about the windows? Residents' values in residential heritage buildings
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Reducing energy and associated carbon emissions from the built environment is fundamental to meeting our climate goals. Retrofit of existing buildings is therefore a key strategy. Heritage buildings present particular challenges for retrofitting beca... Read More about Is it all about the windows? Residents' values in residential heritage buildings.

Applying Bayesian model averaging to characterise urban residential stock turnover dynamics
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Building stock is a key determinant in building energy modelling and policy analysis. However, official statistics on total floor area of urban residential stock in China only exist up to 2006. Previous studies estimating Chinese urban residential st... Read More about Applying Bayesian model averaging to characterise urban residential stock turnover dynamics.

A conceptual framework for understanding adaptation planning of urban road infrastructure
Presentation / Conference Contribution

In the field of adaptation of road infrastructure, several frameworks for decision-making are available, but these have focused mainly on the adaptation of national or regional road network systems. Although the protection of these systems from the p... Read More about A conceptual framework for understanding adaptation planning of urban road infrastructure.

Inclusion of on-site renewables in design-stage building life cycle assessments
Presentation / Conference Contribution

This paper investigates the inclusion of renewables in building life cycle assessments. On-site renewable electricity generation is increasingly common in the built environment, but existing guidance for the inclusion of these renewable systems in de... Read More about Inclusion of on-site renewables in design-stage building life cycle assessments.

Demolition and adaptation at the CB1 development, Cambridge
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Cambridge is a historic city in the UK with an international reputation. The CB1 development is a major real estate regeneration project around the train station aiming to provide a gateway to the city. Once complete it will provide over 50,000 sq m... Read More about Demolition and adaptation at the CB1 development, Cambridge.

Reducing embodied impacts of buildings - Insights from a social power analysis of the UK and Sweden
Presentation / Conference Contribution

With one of the highest carbon footprints, the construction sector should be at the forefront of climate action. Reducing embodied impacts of construction also means ensuring that buildings are durable, low maintenance, and fit for purpose, while max... Read More about Reducing embodied impacts of buildings - Insights from a social power analysis of the UK and Sweden.

Implications of using systematic decomposition structures to organize building LCA information: A comparative analysis of national standards and guidelines- IEA EBC ANNEX 72
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Introduction: The application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique to a building requires the collection and organization of a large amount of data over its life cycle. The systematic decomposition method can be used to classify building comp... Read More about Implications of using systematic decomposition structures to organize building LCA information: A comparative analysis of national standards and guidelines- IEA EBC ANNEX 72.

Residents' comfort perceptions in domestic heritage buildings
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Reducing energy and associated carbon emissions from the existing built environment is critically important to meet our climate goals. Heritage buildings are often presented in the literature as energy inefficient, and uncomfortable to inhabit. There... Read More about Residents' comfort perceptions in domestic heritage buildings.

Low carbon heritage: Residents' views from Cumbria and the English Lake District World Heritage Site
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Carbon emissions from the built environment must be urgently reduced to mitigate climate change. Retrofit of existing buildings is key. However, heritage buildings pose a particular challenge, particularly domestic buildings where retrofit is mainly... Read More about Low carbon heritage: Residents' views from Cumbria and the English Lake District World Heritage Site.

A conceptual framework for understanding community resilience to flooding
Presentation / Conference Contribution

Flooding, an already prevalent global hazard, is predicted to worsen in frequency and intensity. Flood Risk Governance has evolved from exclusively combating flooding to now also coexisting with it, aiming to enhance resilience comprehensively and ov... Read More about A conceptual framework for understanding community resilience to flooding.