International Survey of the Usage of Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment Software

Abstract

The pressure to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings over their lifetime has driven certification bodies and the government to require a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). However, LCA is a data-intensive and time-consuming process which complicates design activities, especially when performing a Whole Building LCA (WBLCA). Software tools can simplify the assessment by providing information more aligned with the users’ needs. This research surveyed 178 building designers who utilise WBLCA software as a decision-making tool. The aim was to identify patterns in the usage of the software and provide guidance to WBLCA software developers. For this purpose, statistical analyses identified the software preferences within each group of users, e.g., the users’ geographical location, professional background and years of WBLCA experience, among others. The results identified challenges faced by the construction industry, such as the need for more efficient communication among stakeholders. Therefore, attributes that allow designers to share information were rated as the most valuable. Two main groups of users were identified, and guidelines were drawn based on the profiles of the groups. Improving software support to designers will enable WBLCA to be integrated more efficiently with BPP by improving the users’ experience and their ability to make more informed decisions.

Integrating life cycle assessment into the building design process—a review

“…This could be achieved through improved engagement and collaboration between building designers, building and construction professionals, and researchers/tool developers. Similar calls for action have been expressed by Sartori et al (2022b) and Dubois et al (2016).…”

“…In current architectural practice, building designers still predominately rely on rules of thumb, experience, knowledge, and intuition to guide these early design decisions (Weytjens and Verbeeck 2010, Meex et al 2018, Sartori et al 2022a. There is often a lack of adequate training and education for building designers regarding quantitative assessment methods required for LCA (Sartori et al 2022b). Nonetheless, many countries are now introducing LCA into national building legislation (Hollberg et al 2022) and several European countries have developed policies, regulations and guidelines regarding embodied emissions.…”

“…To integrate LCA into design workflows, LCA approaches must be better aligned with the requirements of building designers (Sartori et al 2022b). In this study, 'design requirements' are defined as the characteristics of LCA approaches that facilitate improved integration of LCA in the building design process, such as real-time feedback for designers.…”

“…Table 3 provides a summary of findings distilled from five studies. This includes research by Hollberg et al (2022), who propose a framework for user-centric LCA tool development, prioritising end users (in this instance building designers) in the tool development process to ensure that final products meet user requirements; a study by Meex et al (2017), who present a framework for the evaluation of the architect-friendliness of environmental assessment tools in early design (based on analysis of the Flemish architectural design practice); a review by Prideaux et al (2022) investigating tools used to assess embodied environmental effects throughout the design process; a survey of Flemish architects by Weytjens and Verbeeck (2010), looking at the user friendliness of energy evaluation tools; and survey findings from Sartori et al (2022b) from an international survey of building designers, listing guidelines for LCA tool developers to improve the compatibility of LCA tools for the building design process, mapped against the RIBA Plan of Work.…”

“…Designers require a foundational level of knowledge and skills to be able to perform basic LCA tasks, such as selecting the most appropriate tools, defining the scope and goals for assessments, choosing the most appropriate data sources, and effectively interpreting LCA results to guide design decisions. This knowledge has not traditionally been included in architectural education and practice (Sartori et al 2022b). New approaches to architectural education are therefore required that incorporate these considerations into formal education curriculum, professional training, and other learning pathways.…”