Full Description

The reuse of building systems (plumbing, mechanical, and electrical systems) is one of the most promising strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with new buildings and building retrofits. Current methods used by engineers in assessing the opportunity to reuse building systems are often based on the calculation of their remaining service or economic lives. These methods are inadequate because they do not rely on the evaluation of the physical and technological degradation levels of building systems. Moreover, they do not distinguish between the different reuse pathways (i.e., direct reuse, repair, and upgrade). This study aims to develop a method for identifying reuse pathways for building systems based on their physical reliability and their technological performance. The proposed method relies on the determination of failure rates and rates of successive generation release (i.e., the rates at which a successive generation of a product is released on the market). These are respectively derived from reliability databases and historical analyses of regulations and standards. The user is required to provide a minimum of field data and can provide more details if available. This information is used to calculate physical reliability and technological performance metrics, which form the basis on which reuse pathways are identified. The proposed method is applied to a 9-year-old chiller installed in an office building scheduled for refurbishment in Brussels, Belgium. Results show that the proposed method provides the engineer with richer and more accurate information. While existing methods would simply recommend the reuse of the chiller, the compressor and the condenser, the proposed method recommends the repair and upgrade of the chiller, the upgrade of the compressor and the repair of the condenser.

Product Details

Published: 2022 Number of Pages: 8 Units of Measure: Dual File Size: 1 file , 1.3 MB Product Code(s): D-94056-C06 Note: This product is unavailable in Russia, Belarus