ENGG1000:CVEN

SUSTAINABILITY IN ENGINEERING PRACTICE

Ron Cox

Environmental Decision-Making Tools:

LCA
Life Cycle Assessment/Analysis
Prepared by Dr Daniel Robinson
IES, UNSW, 2012

Life-Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Used to evaluate the cradle to grave and

cradle to cradle inputs and outputs of

products or buildings.
Four stages:
-

Goals and scope

Inventory analysis
Impact assessment
Interpretation/improvement assessment

When is it used?
To assess the different life-cycle resource
use/ environmental impacts of building
materials, such as concrete: http://
www.cement.org/docs/default-source/th-mit_hub-p
dfs/building-lca-fact-sheet.pdf

or steel:
http://www.bluescope.com/media/10514/Steel
%20Life%20Cycle%20Analysis.pdf

What does an LCA Involve?

Source:
Thomas (2005)

Scoping
What is being analysed?
Why Life-Cycle Analysis is being done
(regulatory requirements, best-practice
etc).
The extent of the analysis (is it conducted
qualitatively or quantitatively or both).

Inventory Stage
Quantitative
and qualitative
inventory of
the inputs and
outputs

Source:
Thomas (2005)

Ratings of
impact on a
scale of 1-5
based on
qualitative and
quantitative
assessments
of the inputs
and outputs
required

Source:
Thomas (2005)

Interpretation/Improvement Assessment
Making an evaluation of where
improvements can be made. Listing them
out and deciding where things can be
improved.
Considering environmental and economic
factors.
May involve modifying design as an
iterative process until a satisfactory design
is achieved.

Source: Prof. Stephen Foster, UNSW. 2008

Difficulties Faced in Using LCA:

Hard to find/calculate quantities of
inputs/outputs energy and waste
May be quite subjective, meaning over or
under-estimates of impact.
May miss out some categories of
environmental impact

References and Recommended Reading

Harding, R. (1998) Environmental DecisionMaking. Federation Press, Sydney. Chapters
1,2 and 7.
Bridgman et al. (1996) Urban Biophysical
Environments. Oxford University Press,
Melbourne.
Thomas, I. (2005) Environmental
Management. Federation Press.
Thomas, I. (1998, 2005) Environmental
Impact Assessment in Australia. 4th Edn. Fed.
Press.

Journals, etc
http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/Welcome.html then
click databases and e-journals (sirius)
Database (resources) Geobase
Environmental Management Australian
Environmental Impact Assessment Review
International
Environment and Planning A,B,C,D International
Australian Journal of Environmental Management
Australasian Journal of Environmental Management
Environment and Planning Law Journal (EPLJ)

LCA Impact of Buildings

http://www.cement.org/docs/default-source/th-mit_hub-pdfs
/building-lca-fact-sheet.pdf

The heating, cooling, and general

operations of buildings and homes in the

USA accounts for approximately 70% of
national energy consumption and more
than 40% of CO2 emissions
Buildings create more CO2 emissions
than either transport or manufacturing

Building LCA
see indicated website for information on LCA for
buildings including worked examples of LCA
applied to office building, warehouses and a
domestic house
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/objectives.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/whatis.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/scope.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/boundaries.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/stages.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/environmental.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/lca/lca.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/case_studies/DetachedHouse/dhouse_cs.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/case_studies/OfficeBuilding/plan.php
http://www.ccaa.com.au/LCA/case_studies/WarehouseBuilding/plan.php

Example Office building

20 storeys of office space and 2 basement levels of carparking. Net
lettable area per floor = 1,323 sqm

Example Warehouse
Warehouse net area = 12,558 sqm (includes a small office mezzanine.)

Example Detached house

5 house options
Floor

External walls

Internal Walls

Roof

Case study 1

Timber floorboards

Timber/stud/plasterboar
d

plasterboard

Pre-painted
steel roof

Case study 2

Concrete slab on
ground

Brick veneer

plasterboard

Terracotta tiles

Case study 3

Concrete slab on
ground

Double brick

Rendered
cement brick

Cement tiles

Case study 4

Concrete slab on
ground

Tilt-up panel with

plasterboard and
battens

Tilt-up panel

Cement tiles

Case study 5

Concrete slab on
ground

Tilt-up panel

Tilt-up panel

Cement tiles

Assumptions
4 people in house 2 adults and 2 children
User waste is recycled in accordance with local council
practices.
On-site construction waste where possible was sorted
and recycled in accordance with local council practices.
Lighting and other electricity usage 7500kWh
(this is an average calculated from the Ministry of
Energy's Website - see
http://www.doe.nsw.gov.au/doenew/neww/Statistics/spds
tats/index.html for energy usage statistics)
All electricity is grid connected ie. Electricity average,
Australia

Annual Heating and Cooling Requirements

Best is option 4 with tilt-up walls, timber battens, plasterboard lining
and a cement tiled roof.

Sensitivity Analysis of construction and operation

over various lifecycles
Environmental impacts of construction and operation increase with life
Operational energy >> construction

Overall comparison: Energy & greenhouse indicators

Little difference between the five cases

Overall Environmental Assessment

Significant differences now appear

Case Study 5 - Tilt-up walls/concrete tiled roof

Tutorial
Group Discuss in your group the LCA
components, impacts and life-cycle stages
for an I phone. Complete and submit the
Simple Inventory Table (based on Electric
Kettle example) and the Impact Matrix
Individual Discuss and comment on the
LCA process and the identified critical life
cycle stages and impacts.

Inventory Stage
Quantitative
and qualitative
inventory of
the inputs and
outputs

Source:
Thomas (2005)

Ratings of
impact on a
scale of 1-5
based on
qualitative and
quantitative
assessments
of the inputs
and outputs
required

Source:
Thomas (2005)