Climate-Conscious Cooling and Heating : Using Life Cycle Assessment to Determine the Carbon Impact of Heating and Cooling System Alternatives at UBC Ponderosa North

UBC Undergraduate Research

Climate-Conscious Cooling and Heating : Using Life Cycle Assessment to Determine the Carbon Impact of Heating and Cooling System Alternatives at UBC Ponderosa North Bailey, Cameron; Lin, Sarah; Liu, Anna; Lumsden, Jaya; Verrier, Riley

Abstract

The Green Building Action Plan at UBC aims to achieve a net positive impact on human and natural systems within the campus buildings. A significant challenge involves reducing the total carbon emissions in the built environment, emphasizing both operational and embodied carbon emitted throughout the building’s life cycle. This project specifically focuses on the heating and cooling systems at UBC Ponderosa North. The carbon impact of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) and Wall-Mounted Heat Pump (WMHP) systems is evaluated and compared using a life cycle assessment approach. By utilizing OpenLCA software and ecoincent 3.8 database, the study compares the global warming potential (GWP) of the WMHP system using R32 refrigerant against the VRF systems using R410A and R32 refrigerants. The results are calculated for a one-year span, showcasing 144,235 kg CO2e for WMHP, 11,606,500 kg CO2e for VRF with R410A, and 4,181,740 kg CO2e for VRF with R32. Ths comparative analysis provides insights into the environmental implications of HVAC choices and refrigerant types, contributing to the improvement of more sustainable building practices at UBC. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Item Metadata

Title	Climate-Conscious Cooling and Heating : Using Life Cycle Assessment to Determine the Carbon Impact of Heating and Cooling System Alternatives at UBC Ponderosa North
Creator	Bailey, Cameron; Lin, Sarah; Liu, Anna; Lumsden, Jaya; Verrier, Riley
Contributor	University of British Columbia. Campus and Community Planning
Date Issued	2023-12-18
Description	The Green Building Action Plan at UBC aims to achieve a net positive impact on human and natural systems within the campus buildings. A significant challenge involves reducing the total carbon emissions in the built environment, emphasizing both operational and embodied carbon emitted throughout the building’s life cycle. This project specifically focuses on the heating and cooling systems at UBC Ponderosa North. The carbon impact of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) and Wall-Mounted Heat Pump (WMHP) systems is evaluated and compared using a life cycle assessment approach. By utilizing OpenLCA software and ecoincent 3.8 database, the study compares the global warming potential (GWP) of the WMHP system using R32 refrigerant against the VRF systems using R410A and R32 refrigerants. The results are calculated for a one-year span, showcasing 144,235 kg CO2e for WMHP, 11,606,500 kg CO2e for VRF with R410A, and 4,181,740 kg CO2e for VRF with R32. Ths comparative analysis provides insights into the environmental implications of HVAC choices and refrigerant types, contributing to the improvement of more sustainable building practices at UBC. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”
Subject	Buildings; Climate; Energy; Materials; VRF; Wall-Mounted Heat Pump (WMHP); LCA; Refrigerants; Carbon Impact
Genre	Report
Type	Text
Language	eng
Series	UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report; University of British Columbia. BEST 402
Date Available	2024-07-30
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0444872
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88744
Affiliation	Forestry, Faculty of
Peer Review Status	Unreviewed
Scholarly Level	Undergraduate
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

Open Collections

UBC Undergraduate Research