LCBC Web Portal: Mandatory Low Carbon Requirements for Building Submissions to Kuala Lumpur Municipality (DBKL)
- Gregers Reimann
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
The Kuala Lumpur is leading the way by being the first municipality in Malaysia to set mandatory low carbon requirements for buildings. Currently, the requirements only apply for submission of new building projects. Later, the existing buildings will also be subjected to low-carbon compliance, when they undergo major retrofits works that need approval from the municipality.
The low-carbon compliance check is done through the LCBC Web Portal (https://lcbc.app/), where the acronym stands for Low-Carbon Building Checklist (LCBC).
The LCBC Web Portal was one of the many projects funded by C40. We (IEN Consultants) won this contract together with Cobler and had an excellent collaboration, developing a more rigorous LCBC tool with added capabilities as well as a slick and user-friendly web portal.
By 2030, it is estimated that the LCBC Web Portal will bring about carbon emission savings of approximately 250,000 ton CO2, which corresponds to the annual carbon emissions of 54,000 petrol cars.
The LCBC plays a key role in the newly launched Net Zero Carbon Emissions Buildings Roadmap (NZCEB) 2050 for Kuala Lumpur. Below, the graphic shows the targets and deliverables of the roadmap and how the LCBC - and it's continuous development with more and more stringent carbon thresholds - is referenced frequently:
The above graphic is available high resolution download at this link.
The key features of the LCBC tool are:
Operational carbon emissions from the energy consumption of buildings These carbon emissions are determined through an annual energy simulation, which is performed automatically once the submitting architect enters these key building design information into the LCBC Web Portal: - building orientation - window area (window-to-wall ratio) - window shading - window glass specifications (Shading Coefficient and U-value) - wall and roof insulation - wall and roof colour (albedo value) - efficiency of the cooling system (select cooling system from dropdown list) At each stage of the building submission (KM, BP and CCC), the submitting architect must enter/update the basic building design data, and the online annual energy simulation will immediately tell, if the build meets or exceeds the operational carbon emissions threshold. Insofar the building exceeds the threshold, the architect can make design modifications, for example, selecting higher performance glazing, better window shading and a more energy efficient cooling system. By re-running the annual simulation, the architect can continuously check, when the building reaches operational low-carbon compliance. The advantage of this LCBC tool is that low-carbon building performance gets locked in from the very first stage (KM submission), and that re-submissions are unlikely to be required and the LCBC tool automatically calculates whether the building complies or not.
Embodied carbon of the building materials These carbon emissions mostly occur in the manufacture of building materials. The LCBC draws on a database of typical carbon emissions per square meter for different building constructions such as: - structural systems - wall systems - window systems - roof systems - percentage of green concrete used - percentage of green steel used The LCBC tool will automatically calculate, whether the total sum of building materials meets the embodied carbon threshold. If not, the submitting architect can redesign by select less carbon intensive building materials until the embodied carbon threshold is met. Once again, the LCBC ensures that the building design get locked into a low-carbon path from the beginning of the design, namely at the KM submission stage.
Transportation carbon emissions from commuting to/from building This metric is not mandatory, yet. Besides, DBKL does not yet have sufficiently accurate tools to determine the likely carbon emissions for new construction projects. For existing building projects, a transport survey of the building occupants can be used to determine the carbon emissions from the daily commute. Half of the carbon emissions of Kuala Lumpur come from transportation, hence, the importance of including transportation carbon emissions in the LCBC Web portal.
Here is a LCBC Web Portal training video link. For a big picture overview of how LCBC fits in the low-carbon vision for Kuala Lumpur, watch this short video below:
We applaud DBKL for embarking on the path of mandatory low-carbon requirements for its buildings, and we look forward to continued collaboration pushing forward to decarbonisation agenda.
Acknowledgements & references:
LCBC Web Portal link: https://lcbc.app/
A big thank you to the C40 team, notably Huey Yee Yoong, Solehani Rohayu Arshad, Azura Ng, Alissa Raj and Murali Ram
Also a big thank you to DBKL, particularly Nik Mohammed Faizal Bin Nik Ali, Deputy Director, JPPPB, DBKL, who has been a real passionate champion of the Low-Carbon Building Checklist (LCBC) for many years. Also thanks to Mohd Yushanizar Md. Yusoff, Fauziah Mohamad Ghazali and Nurul Hidayah Zawawi.
Thank you to malaysiaGBC and CarbonScore for collaboration on the embodied carbon figures for building constructions
We would also like to acknowledge the early creator of the LCBC, Ar Axxu Jung Wai Hoi. As well as Ar Husam Abdulfatah Haron, creator of the LCBC 1.0 spreadsheet in close collaboration with Nik Mohammed Faizal Bin Nik Ali.
Thanks for a wonderful collaboration on the IT and web portal side of things to our project partner, Cobler Sdn Bhd (https://www.cobler.io/), particularly Gene Ong and Tan Kok Xin. Hope to collaborate more!
And last but not least, a big praise to my IEN colleague Simon Laporte for great ideas and excellent work behind the scenes.
Gallery:
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