LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

(The first step towards sustainable construction)

MSc CIVIL ENGINEERING

Presented by:
BOURNEBE BAIMOURNE
bobienfait@gmail.com Assessor: Dr. HUMPHREY DANSO
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

CONTENTS

• 1- Introduction • 6- Impact categories

• 2- Definition
• 3- Variants of Life Cycle
Assessment
• 4- Life cycle stages of buildings
• 5- Goal and scope definition
• 7- Inventory analysis
• 8- Impact assessment
• 9- Interpretation and report
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

INTRODUCTION
Climate change and global warming have became ones of the lingering
worldwide issues. Innovations, development of new methods and
technologies are focusing on ways to mitigate these menaces. Thus, in
construction industries, Life Cycle Assessment is a tool being developed to
evaluate and, hence, reduce environmental impacts by buildings. LCA is a
tool that allows architects and other building professionals to understand the
energy use and other environmental impacts associated with all life cycle
phases of the building.
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

DEFINITION
The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) describes LCA
as “a process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product,
process, or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and
wastes released to the environment; to assess the impact of those energy and
materials used and released to the environment; and to identify and evaluate
opportunities to affect environmental improvements.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refers to LCA as “a cradle-to-grave
approach for assessing industrial systems that evaluates all stages of a product’s
life.”
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

VARIANTS OF LCA
Depending on the purpose of conducting the LCA:
➢ Process-based LCA Method: In a process-based LCA, one itemizes the inputs and
the outputs for each step required to produce a product. LCA methods
implemented in the building construction industry are based primarily on
process-based LCA
➢ Economic Input-Output Based LCA Method :estimates the materials and energy
resources required for, and the environmental emissions resulting from, activities
in a given economy. Unlike process-based LCA methods, which focus on
examining a single process in detail, input-output-based LCA methods consider
an entire sector of the economy—all activities of all industry sectors.
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

LIFE CYCLE STAGES OF BUILDINGS

▪ Material extraction-manufacturing
▪ Construction
▪ Use and maintenance
▪ End of life

Depending on the scope of the

project:
• Cradle-to-grave
• Cradle-to-gate
• Gate-to-gate
• Cradle-to-cradle
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

GOAL AND SCOPE DEFINITION

Goals: It varies from one LCA project to another depending on the will of the entity assessing. Here
are some possible goals:
➢ Assist in decision-making
➢ Declare performance with respect to legal requirements
➢ Document environmental performance
➢ Support for policy development
While defining your scopes, the following items must be properly circumscribed:
➢ A functional description of the building
➢ Reference study period
➢ System boundary
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

IMPACT CATEGORIES
➢ Global warming potential
➢ Acidification potential
➢ Eutrophication potential
➢ Ozone depletion potential
➢ Smog formation potential

LCA can assess many environmental impacts, but GWP is often the focus of LCA studies
(CO2)
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

INVENTORY ANALYSIS

In this step, inventory of all the

inputs and outputs to and from
the building life cycle is prepared.
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

Calculate the environmental

impacts of your building.

We distinguish two methods :

- End-point method
- Mid-point method
 LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING

INTERPRETATION AND REPORT

In this step, we need to break down
the environmental impacts by
Building component, material type,
and/or life cycle stage, and visualize,
the results.

And we interpret following these:

1.Checking for errors in the analysis
2.Understanding the results
3.Developing conclusions
 References

• AIA Guide to Building Life Cycle Assessment in Practice_2010

• CLF-LCA-Practice-Guide_2019
• Environmental friendly construction (2020)_Kailun Feng
• Seeking sustainability in counstruction sector (2014)_Edar Uttam