Sustainability and Structural Fire Engineering: Fid-Bau Portal

Sustainability and Structural Fire Engineering

Fischer, Erica C. / Varma, Amit H.

Many buildings in the U.S. are vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters due to the increased popularity of sustainable building infrastructure. Life cycle assessment analyses are required to design and achieve “green” building status. These analyses do not require evaluations of building performance during natural or man-made hazards. Increases in labor and material caused by robust and resilient systems also often increase embodied energy and carbon dioxide emissions. Those LCA analyses which do consider seismic performance of a building many times do not take into account the seismic performance of the non-structural secondary systems (partition walls, drop ceilings, etc.). In the particular case of fire hazards, automatic sprinkler systems add 30-40kg of embodied carbon to a building; however, reduce the risk factor for fire during the life span of a building. To prevent post-fire repairs, which would increase the embodied energy and carbon of the building more, hazard mitigation needs to be integrated with sustainability. The development of performance-based design standards helps this integration; however, the lack of risk factors incorporated into life cycle assessments needs to be remedied, not just for seismic design, but all natural disasters. This paper references previous developments in the marriage between natural hazard mitigation and sustainability as well as the limitations of the tools available to structural engineers. Advancements in the development of a risk factor for fire is discussed as well as the increased carbon emissions and embodied energy of buildings without active fire protective measures.