Currently, Uruguay is developing several measures to reduce the environmental impact of human activities and CO2 emissions. In 2015 more than 90% of electricity was produced by renewable sources. Despite this fact, the construction, transport and building sectors are still responsible for more than 60% of CO2 emissions.Reducing building environmental impacts is becoming an increasing challenge. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is recognized as a method that can help to reduce environmental impacts of the building sector. It can be used as an early stage decision-making tool to assess environmental impacts design choices. The present paper developed a method based on LCA which integrates Building Information Modeling (BIM) to assess building envelope alternatives. The method is validated by the application in a single-family house -the most popular typology -in Uruguay, considering three envelope alternatives, including frequent and non-frequent materials. Results focused on comparing the embodied impacts, transport, and operational energy consumptions of each scenario. The results evidence that the developed method can help during the building design process, especially to define dimension and thickness of materials.
Introduction: The application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) technique to a building requires the collection and organization of a large amount of data over its life cycle. The systematic decomposition method can be used to classify building components, elements and materials, overcome specific difficulties that are encountered when attempting to complete the life cycle inventory and increase the reliability and transparency of results. In this paper, which was developed in the context of the research project IEA EBC Annex 72, we demonstrate the implications of taking such approach and describe the results of a comparison among different national standards/guidelines that are used to conduct LCA for building decomposition. Methods: We initially identified the main characteristics of the standards/guidelines used by Annex participant countries. The “be2226” reference office building was used as a reference to apply the different national standards/guidelines related to building decomposition. It served as a basis of comparison, allowing us to identify the implications of using different systems/standards in the LCA practice, in terms of how these differences affect the LCI structures, LCA databases and the methods used to communicate results. We also analyzed the implications of integrating these standards/guidelines into Building Information Modelling (BIM) to support LCA. Results: Twelve national classification systems/standards/guidelines for the building decomposition were compared. Differences were identified among the levels of decomposition and grouping principles, as well as the consequences of these differences that were related to the LCI organization. In addition, differences were observed among the LCA databases and the structures of the results. Conclusions: The findings of this study summarize and provide an overview of the most relevant aspects of using a standardized building decomposition structure to conduct LCA. Recommendations are formulated on the basis of these findings.
For over 20 years, we have followed a line of research that seeks to propose models for architecture which minimize the environmental impact caused by both its construction as its use. We understand that, in order to reduce the environmental impact produced by current constructions, it is necessary to change the way they are designed and built.The followed process has been firstly focused on the search for geometries constructed with adequate materiality which would provide effective architectural solutions with a minimum consumption of material (lightweight solutions). Secondly, we have experienced quick assembly and disassembly procedures (deployable mesh, modular systems, etc.) that reduced the assembly time of the proposed systems and, therefore, will minimize the impact (quick assembly/reversibility). Finally, it has been possible to relate the proposed models (lightweight, quick assembly and reversible) with tools for lifecycle assessment which allow accurately assess the environmental impact of them.The use and development of LCA tools has allowed us to optimize the proposed models. In addition, in the described process, original parametric control tools (geometry and processes) have been used. They allow to particularize the proposed models to each case based on their possibilities of manufacture.The way followed by several made works, which are applications of the proposed models, will be described then.
The construction and building sectors are one of the highest consumers of resources and energy. Literature evidences the potentialities of the design phase towards the improvement of environmental, economic and social performance of buildings. Thus, the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). approach is recognized as suitable method. It is based on the “triple bottom line” principle, to calculate environmental, economic, social impacts produced by buildings during its life cycle. The present paper aims to present a methodological framework based on an LCSA, used during design stages of buildings and integrated into a building’s design technology such as Building Information Modeling (BIM). A conceptual approach to conduct the data integration and a possible workflow to integrate the LCSA into BIM is proposed. The value of the present approach is the possibility to conduct quantitative environmental, economic and social assessment of buildings to guide designers to measure and predict the building’s performance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.