Learnings from Developing a Context-Specific LCA Tool for Buildings—The Case of LCAbyg 4

Abstract

Buildings are a major cause of global resource consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other impacts on the environment, originating from both operational energy and material use. Informed design decisions can help mitigate potential impacts on the environment, by the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) in the early project stages. In order to mitigate building environment impacts throughout the industry, architects and engineers need tools that are integrated in the design workflow and based on the information available. Existing LCA tools for building design professionals are predominantly embedded in a specific context such as a country or a sustainability scheme. This paper provides learnings for the development of context-tailored tools for building-LCA using the case of Denmark, with specific focus on GHG-emissions that are in focus worldwide. Based on stakeholder involvement, four key areas were defined: Default information, flexibility, environmental design feedback and transparent results. Tool functions include a component library and a quantity estimator for bridging incomplete building information. A comparison monitor displays the performance of design solutions selected in the model, while a number of graphs and tables provide analysis of inventory and results. Finally, a customisable model data export, a complete input/output file for revision and custom analysis are among key functions for transparency.

BIM-Based Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings—An Investigation of Industry Practice and Needs

“…For even earlier stages, average data for components or elements is suggested [49]. Predefined elements and components have also been suggested for early design LCA in general [2,21,24].…”

“…Thus, one of the main goals for the BIM-LCA integration process is to gain information on material quantities and match the information with environmental data. The information is connected to the Danish national tool, LCAbyg [2,56].…”

“…LCA is a widely used and accepted method of assessing the environmental performance of buildings. Moreover, LCA will in the near future become a mandatory requirement in several European countries such as Denmark, Finland, France, and Sweden [2,3]. However, the complexity and the time-consuming work related to LCA has often been considered a barrier [4][5][6], which now has to be overcome.…”

“…The LCA method is described in ISO standard 14,040 and 14,044 [15,16] and, specifically for buildings, in the European standard EN 15,978 [17] from CEN TC350. Several nations have made their own method specifications considering the national contexts [2]. Life cycle assessment is used in sustainable certification systems [3,18,19], but several countries are considering or have decided to include limit values for GHG-emission in legislation, such as Denmark recently adopted [20].…”

“…Research questions in this paper are: (1) What workflow and challenges are related to BIM-LCA in industry practice? (2) What are needs for BIM-LCA in industry and are they met through the Danish prototype using open neutral file-formats and 3D view?…”