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Environmental Impact of Automatic Fire Sprinklers: Part 1. Residential Sprinklers Revisited in the Age of Sustainability

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Abstract

A recent study on the environmental impact of automatic fire sprinklers is documented in a two part series. The current paper provides a background on residential sprinkler technology from its inception until the present, and analyzes the contribution of risk factors, such as fire, on the total lifecycle carbon emissions of one- and two-family dwellings and the reduction to that contribution achieved via the use of automatic fire sprinklers. The analysis shows that the risk of fire increases the carbon emissions of a building over its’ lifecycle. The results illustrate that sound risk management is necessary to achieving sustainability and avoiding unintended consequences. These findings are especially important as society seeks to design and build more energy- and resource-efficient, environmentally sustainable buildings.

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Notes

  1. Note that gases other than CO2 are considered in terms of CO2 equivalents normalized in terms of global warming potential calculated according to the United Nations framework Convention on Climate Change. Greenhouse gases considered by Norman et al. were carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and chlorofluorocarbons [32].

  2. Hall [18] has analyzed the performance of automatic sprinklers in one- and two-family dwellings. He reports that, for the period of 2003 to 2006, fire damage was only reduced from an average of US $19,000 to US $14,000 as a result of automatic sprinklers. Hall comments that “only 1% of reported dwelling fires involve sprinklered properties, which means any loss estimate for sprinklered dwelling fires will tend to be statistically unstable” [18].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FM Global, 1151 Boston-Providence Turnpike, Norwood, MA, 02062, USA

    Louis A. Gritzo, Robert G. Bill Jr., Christopher J. Wieczorek & Benjamin Ditch

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  1. Louis A. Gritzo
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  2. Robert G. Bill Jr.
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  3. Christopher J. Wieczorek
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  4. Benjamin Ditch
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Correspondence to Christopher J. Wieczorek.

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Gritzo, L.A., Bill, R.G., Wieczorek, C.J. et al. Environmental Impact of Automatic Fire Sprinklers: Part 1. Residential Sprinklers Revisited in the Age of Sustainability. Fire Technol 47, 751–763 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-010-0191-8

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