This document discusses the construction industry's role in addressing climate change through information technology research. It presents climate change as one of the key technological challenges and identifies construction as a double winner that can benefit from both climate change adaptations and mitigation policies. The document outlines a research agenda for the construction industry that focuses on improving energy efficiency in existing and new buildings through technologies like building information modeling, intelligent building energy management systems, and design tools that promote passive and zero-emission building standards. It also discusses making building processes and materials more energy efficient. The overarching goal is for the construction industry to contribute significantly to reducing greenhouse gas emissions through technological innovation and information technologies.

1. Construction IT Research -
Climate Change Agenda1
Ž. Turk
Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering,
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
&
Secretariat of the Reflection Group on the Future of Europe,
Brussels, Belgium.
Abstract
Addressing climate change is one of the key technological challenges of the present and
the near future. With about a half of the energy being used in the built environment and
with a huge proportion being used by the transportation sector, the construction
industry will be a very important player. The paper presents the general context of the
climate change discussion. It identifies construction industry as a double winner in this
process, potentially benefiting both from the changes in nature as well as from
governments' measures. There are many things construction industry can accomplish
without much additional research, even more, however, if it moves beyond the current
state of the art, particularly in building automation and the use of ICT throughout the
building's life cycle. The paper concludes by identifying the emerging research and
development agenda in the field constriction informatics.
Keywords: climate change, information technology in construction, research agenda.
1 Introduction
Researchers have been pointing to the gradual warming of the planet since the late
1980s [1] and most have attributed it to increased concentration of greenhouse gasses
resulting from human burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil; Thus the name
"anthropogenic global warming" (AGW). The process caught political attention in the
late 1990s when a global agreement called the Kyoto protocol [2] was signed by many
but not all industrial powers. A series of extremely warm summers in the northern
hemisphere as well as continued scientific [3] and public relations activity (such as the
Inconvenient Truth movie) lead to renewed interest, at least in Europe.
Citation: Ž. Turk, "Construction Information Technology Research: Climate Change Agenda", invited
paper in B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves, R.C. Barros, (Editors), "Trends in Civil and Structural
Engineering Computing", Saxe-Coburg Publications, Computational Science, Engineering & Technology
Series, ISSN 1759-3158; Stirlingshire, UK, Chapter 19, pp 413-423, 2009. doi:10.4203/csets.22.19
1

2. In 2007 the EU agreed on the so called 5x20 plan: By 2020 unilaterally reduce
greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, reduce energy consumption in general by 20% and
obtain 20% of the energy from renewable sources. With an international agreement
reached, the greenhouse gas emissions should be reduced even more ambitiously -
down to 30%.
Many studies suggest that in order to stabilise the temperatures not higher than
about 2C over average values, the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions should
be between 50 and 95% by the year 2050 [4]. Given the fact that 80% of the global
energy today comes from fossil fuels [5], it is clear that this calls for an industrial and
technological revolution that would totally change our current ways of generating and
using energy which some call the third industrial revolution [6].
Although the scientific consensus about the AGW is quite strong, the actual
relation between the CO2 concentration and temperature is still being investigated [7].
Other good reasons to proceed with reduction of GHG emissions and energy
efficiency also include the price of fossil fuels and reliability of delivery. The EU is
importing around 55% of its primary energy. Another argument is that even if the
chances of a major climate disaster happening is low, the overall risk is still high given
what is at stake, and that "the price of inaction is greater than the price of action" [4]. It
is hoped that in December 2009 in Copenhagen, a post Kyoto agreement would be
reached that would be a basis for a serious step towards drastic reduction of the use of
energy in general and the use of fossil fuels in particular.
The coming industrial revolution will be profound. The key topic of this paper is
how can the research and development in construction and particularly in the use of
information and communication technology (ICT) in construction contribute to this
effort.
2 Responses to climate change
The two responses are adaptation to changes (in nature as well as in the political and
business environments) and mitigation. Given the future scenarios both will need to
take place.
2.1 Adaptation to nature
Adaptation means adapting our societies to warmer climates, potentially higher sea
levels and more violent weather events. While there is little scientific consensus what
extreme events are results of climate changes (such as hurricanes, tornados, floods,
storms) generally warmer climate is associated with more extreme events. The
construction industry will need to respond by, for example, re-evaluating design loads
related to wind, flood water occurrence levels, insulation against warm weather and the
expected future sea levels. Much of the infrastructure will need to be adapted or
upgraded and many building practices reconsidered.
2.2 Mitigation
2

3. Mitigation essentially means reducing the CO2 emissions. A widely cited study by
McKinsey (Fig.1) shows the costs related to doing so. The vertical dimension of each of
the areas in the diagram is the cost of reduction. Some technologies (on the left of the
diagram) have a negative cost, meaning, they save money to the investor. Some cost
less (centre part) some more (far right of the diagram). The horizontal dimension is the
abetment potential - how many million tons of CO2 can one or other technology save.
As one can see, the total potential is in line with the 20-20-20 targets and for about one
third of the CO2 the price is negative.
The diagram provides a very good rule of thumb for the legislators as to have to
move the industry and the citizens downwards the reduction of the CO2 emissions.
 Solutions on the left hand side of the diagram are likely to be enforced through
standards and legislation. For example by prescribing better insulation properties
of the building envelope of fuel efficiency of cars. In the field of construction, the
EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) has been adopted in 2003
and is being used since 2006. Energy efficiency in buildings is also addressed in
the Boiler Directive (92/42/EEC), the Construction Products Directive
(89/106/EEC) and the buildings provisions in the SAVE Directive 93/76/EEC).
 The middle part of the diagram includes technologies that can be assisted by
providing tax breaks and subventions for their use, such as the feed-in tariffs for
renewable electricity power.
 Technology no the far right are expensive and research is needed to make them
cheaper.
Gas plant CCS retrofit
Global GHG abatement cost curve beyond business-as-usual – 2030 Coal CCS retrofit
Iron and steel CCS new build
Low penetration wind
Coal CCS new build
60 Cars plug-in hybrid Power plant biomass co-
Residential electronics firing
Degraded forest reforestation
50 Reduced intensive
Residential appliances Nuclear agriculture
40 Retrofit residential HVAC Pastureland afforestation conversion
High penetration wind
30 Tillage and residue mgmt Degraded land restoration Solar PV
Abatement cost in € per tCO2e
Insulation retrofit (residential) 2nd generation bio-fuels Solar CSP
20
Building efficiency
Cars full hybrid new build
10
Waste recycling
0
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 38
-10
Organic soil restoration
Abatement potential
-20 Geothermal
in GtCO2e per year
Grassland management
-30 Reduced pastureland conversion
-40 Reduced slash and burn agriculture conversion
Small hydro
-50 1st generation biofuels SOURCE: Global GHG Abatement Cost Curve v2.0
Rice management
-60
Efficiency improvements other industry
-70 Electricity from landfill gas
Clinker substitution by fly ash
-80
Cropland nutrient management
-90 Motor systems efficiency
Insulation retrofit (commercial)
-100 Lighting – switch incandescent to LED (residential)
legislation, promotion, tax and other research and
standards advertising financial incentives development
policy measures
Figure 1: Technology map for reduction of CO2.
3

4. In addition to the enforcement of the sustainable practices, habits of the people and their
values will play an increasing role [8]. To exercise these beliefs the citizens need
information on the sustainability performance of the products. In the filed of
construction, the so called Energy Performance Certificate carries the information about
the energy performance of a building in a very similar way as household appliances are
rated from A to G. Some EU member states have also implemented a "Display Energy
Certificate" that publicly displays the energy use of a building and calls for a report
outlining measures to improve.
2.3 Adaptation to policies
Through taxation, subsidies and regulation one can expect significant government
interference into all energy intensive businesses. Energy will become more expensive,
together with other raw materials. Resource efficiency of all industries will become a
key competitive advantage. Public procurement may stimulate even higher energy
efficiency standards.
3 Impact on Construction Industry
The built environment is globally responsible for about 40% of global CO2 emissions,
40% of solid waste generation and up to 40% of global energy use [9]. In the EU the
figures are similar. Construction industry is a significant user of energy and its products
are the places where most of the energy is used - in buildings around 40% and on the
roads and railways a further one third. Using better energy efficiency standards about
half of the energy used in buildings could be saved. Thus in buildings alone the 20%
reduction target could be achieved. But the savings would have to come from
refurbishing existing buildings, because only 1% of the European building stock is built
new each year. Several countries have already started the national program to develop
related strategies [10, 11].
In fact a lot of the low lying fruit of Figure 1 can be picked by the construction
industry. Because of all this, the construction industry is one of a key factors of the
third industrial revolution and, according to a study of Deutche Bank (Fig. 2) a double
winner - change in climate will require construction works and so will the construction
of new energy facilities, transportation and building infrastructure.
4

5. impact of the change of climate
Winning and loosing double winners
+
sectors of climate change
construction and
associated sectors
impact of the change in regulation,
mechanical and
market, govt. intervention
chemical electrical
industry renewable
engineering
energy
building
- automotive materials, +
finance
fossil paper, textiles
agriculture
energy metal
and
tourism food forestry
transportation
double losers -
Figure 2: Construction and associated sectors (top right) as a double winners of climate
change.
Although the situation may look encouraging for the construction industry, the
investments do not mean business as usual but more of it. The impact that construction
products have on the use of energy are so significant, that the industry itself will need to
undergo a major change in the years to come. About ¼ of the energy used up in a
building during its lifetime amounts to the energy needed to build it - make steel,
cement, concrete; do the transportation etc. Given the small proportion of new
construction the potential savings in this area are relatively small, given the size of the
industry, however, not negligible.
The challenge to build with less material has been a centuries long process where
more and more precise calculations and simulations allowed for the structures to lighter
but safer at the same time. The progress has been immense and little potential is left to
those the want to use less concrete and steel - not in the orders of 80-90% anyway.
In summary, the biggest potential for energy savings related to the construction
sector are related to energy use in existing buildings. Other opportunities are smaller
but will need to be tackled as well to meet the ambitious climate change mitigation and
adaptation plans.
4 Research agenda for ICT in construction
Construction industry will address climate change in the following ways:
 retrofitting existing building stock for energy efficiency.
 intelligent energy management in existing and new buildings.
 resource efficiency of new buildings.
 resource efficient building processes.
 resource efficiency in materials, focus on renewable materials.
 re-thinking the urban planning, settling patterns and transportation grid.
5

6. Because of this, the industry itself will need to go throug and innovation and learning
process. All of these themes have a significant ICT aspect [12]. It will be elaborated in
the following subsections.
4.1 Retrofitting existing building stock for energy efficiency
This is perhaps the single most important measure to be taken that allows for cheapest
and even profitable investments. The challenge is to make such retrofits on big scale, in
a cheap and industrialised manner. While the process to do so is ongoing in many cities,
innovation of business models as well as technology will be needed to approach the
problem in the required scale.
ICT in construction has too date been to much focused on the designing of new
buildings. We need better tools for rapid digitalisation of 3D buildings, rapid
assessment of their energy performance, interoperability with GIS and administrative
data bases related to building ownership. An extension of building information
modelling (BIM) standards may be in order to allow for the modelling of rough
geometries and properties of buildings as well as their locations. The goal would be for
the IT to assist in the planning of the retrofits.
Automation of window manufacturing is not a construction related issue. But
automation of façade reconstruction will be a challenge, in particular with the historic
buildings.
Interoperability of software for building envelope design and BIM programs will be
a desired feature [13, 14, 15].
4.2 Intelligent energy management in existing and new buildings
The goal here is to reach similar levels of occupant comfort with less energy. The
vision is that buildings have many more active elements (not just heating, cooling and
ventilation, but façade elements, shades, windows etc.) and sensors (temperature, air
quality, lighting) that are part of a computerised network. Introduction of IPV6 and
related technologies would allow for any electronic device be a part of an Internet
Protocol network and have a computerised control of all these active elements, possible
without human intervention or at a distance.
The underlying information would include building information models that would
allow for real time sensing, simulations and control of solutions would be based on real
time simulations. Learning from actions of the human occupants of the building and
their personal preferences would be made through machine learning algorithms. Links
with a smart energy grid could optimise the use of energy by availability and price as
well as include any of the potential building's energy generation facilities (e.g. solar
panels on the roof or photovoltaic façade) with the grid. Standardisation of sensors and
equipment interfaces will be an important issue.
Extensive work in these areas has been ongoing and includes the EU project called
REEB [16].
4.3 Energy efficiency of new buildings
6

7. While the energy use of existing buildings can be rough halved with retrofit, new
passive and zero emission residential, office buildings and industrial buildings have
been proven possible. The challenge is to make them standard which would also drive
down the cost.
Authors of integrated building design software such as ArchiCAD and Revit are
already incorporating possibilities to design for energy efficiency, but this and similar
software still features traditional building blocks. While a purely geometrical CAD
system does not limit the designer to a particular technology of a building or a building
envelope, an object oriented CAD system does promote the use of the built-in object.
The goal of the software developers therefore is to create object based CAD where the
objects are from a passive and carbon neutral design. Such design software could do a
lot to promote a certain type of a building, thus generate a paradigm shift in building
through the use of a design tool.
A precondition for that are building models that support this. Studies on the issue are
ongoing [17,18] as well as commercial applications [19].
4.4 Energy efficient building processes
Construction is about heavy stuff. Moving around the steel, concrete and other
materials uses a lot of transport related energy. Streamlining the process and shortening
the logistic pathways would reduce cost and energy use. The "Process and ICT" focus
area of the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) deals with this issue
[20].
4.5 Renewable materials
Currently, construction industry is using material such as steel, brick, cement and glass
that are energy non-efficient [21]. Reinforced concrete and steel are also very well
supported in a host of software applications. However, in many cases wood could
efficiently replace non-renewable materials. Use of wood is not only CO2 neutral, but
building the wood into a product captures and stores the CO2 for the life span of a
structure which can last for decades, even centuries.
Particular structural and envelope wood would require meaningful quantities,
however, its use could be promoted with better computational software (to design
structural elements, including highway overpasses and smaller bridges) as well 3D
modelling software to design buildings (this one with a direct link to manufacturing
lines and CNC machines that would cut timber to measure). Building with wood and
other highly manufactured not amorphous materials would require a much better
interface between design and manufacturing and could be an additional motive to move
towards BIM solutions.
4.6 Re-thinking the urban planning
Energy use of people lining in single detached houses is higher than that of people
living in multi storey apartment blocks. Also, living in the city is more energy efficient
7

8. than commuting from the suburbs. How much of their lifestyle people would like to
sacrifice we do not know. However, a rethinking on how we organise our settlements is
emerging [22]. This poses a challenge to the development of the geographical
information systems (GIS) and their environmental and transportation impacts.
4.7 Knowledge transfer issues
The industrial revolution and the changes in technologies outlined above will require a
massive change in building practises, processes, designs, technologies and materials.
Therefore this traditionally conservative industry will also need to upgrade its
knowledge transfer mechanisms.
 Education. The changes will happen faster than the natural replacement of the
workforce. Even more than before, life long learning will be important. Self
learning using the Internet and other distance learning methods will be vital. There
are some good examples of this in the filed of construction, but it is lagging behind
many other areas.
 Standardisation. Particularly the intelligent building, sensors, controls will need to
be standardised in order to be interoperable. Standardisation will also need to
proceed in the resource efficiency aspects of the conceptual building models,
particularly open access to standards.
 Best practise sharing. In traditional construction it has taken centuries for some
good practices to spread and become ubiquitous. When there is a technological
change, this needs to happen in a faster manner. The internet offers an immense
opportunity to share good designs, good practical solutions.
A common element in all of the above is openness. By making open courseware, open
standards and open libraries of knowledge and best practices, the knowledge would
propagate faster and the contributions that construction can make to adaptation and
mitigation of climate change can be made more quickly. Supporting this openness
would be also a wise spending on public money that will be poured into the climate
change polices anyway, particularly because a lot of public buildings will be adapted as
well. Just making knowledge related to that publish would get best practise open
libraries started.
5 Conclusion
A major industrial revolution will be unfolding over the next couple of decades. It will
have a profound impact on all industries and on construction in particular. The core
products of civil and structural engineers - the load bearing structure and the interface
with the ground - will become an even smaller part in the cost structure of a building
product. The added value will be increasingly an "environmental added value". Either
the construction industry and researchers will seize the opportunity and take the various
mechanical, electrical and electronic active elements as a part of their portfolio or it will
need to collaborate much more closely with other engineers to provide it.
8

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