Minimizing Construction Emissions Using Building Information Modeling and Decision-Making Techniques

The construction industry is regarded as a major contributor to environmental emissions, due to extensive usage of resources and the waste products produced. This article presents a building information modeling (BIM)-based model that is capable of measuring six types of emissions for different activities of construction projects. The paper investigates eight multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques for ranking alternatives based on project time; project life cycle cost; project environmental impact; and primary energy consumed by different activities. Three group decision- making techniques are performed to provide consensus and final ranking of alternatives. The Monte Carlo simulation is implemented in order to account for the discrepancy in the calculation of greenhouse gases produced from buildings. Also, a case study of academic buildings is introduced in order to demonstrate the practical features of the proposed model.