Synergies of green building retrofit strategies for improving sustainability and resilience via a building-scale food-energy-water nexus

Synergies of green building retrofit strategies for improving sustainability and resilience via a building-scale food-energy-water nexus

Building resilience

Carbon footprint

Ecological footprint

Food-energy-water nexus

Green building

Life cycle assessment

Water footprint

This study examines a green building retrofit plan through a system dynamics model (SDM) creating symbiosis embedded in a building-scale food-energy-water (FEW) nexus. An indicator approach was employed to exploit cross-domain seams via the use of carbon, water, and ecological footprints for sustainability, as well as food security and energy supply reliability ratio for resilience. The SDM was formulated to demonstrate a continuous stormwater treatment outflow model for rooftop farming with stormwater reuse for irrigation, nutrient cycling via the use of green sorption media, and green energy harvesting in support of rooftop farming. We prove that green energy use, stormwater reuse, and rooftop farming can lower carbon, water, and ecological footprints, avoid CO2 emissions via carbon sequestration in rooftop farming, and improve energy supply reliability and food security. Case 1 (Base Case) includes no retrofit (current condition), Case 2 includes rooftop farming and stormwater reuse, and Case 3 incorporates additional green energy harvesting for sustaining rooftop farming. All three scenarios were assessed using a life cycle assessment (LCA) to generate water and carbon footprints. Case 3 exhibited a 2.24% reduction of total building energy demand from the utility grid due to renewable energy harvesting, while the preservation of nitrogen and phosphorus via the use of green sorption media for crop growth promoted nutrient cycling by maintaining 82% of nitrogen and 42% of phosphorus on site. The ecological footprints for the three case studies were 0.134 ha, 0.542 ha, 6.50 ha, respectively. Case 3 was selected as the best green building retrofit option through a multicriteria decision analysis.

105939

176

Valencia, Andrea

Zhang, Wei

Gu, Lixing

Chang, Ni-Bin

Wanielista, Martin P.

Resources, Conservation and Recycling

2022

journalArticle

0921-3449

10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105939