Life cycle assessment in the construction sector: A review

Buyle, Matthias; Braet, Johan; Audenaert, Amaryllis

doi:10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.001

Cited by 439 publications

(227 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Furthermore, inappropriate materials induce extra energy consumption due to heating, cooling or ventilation during the occupation and demolition stages [4,5]. The occupation phase alone accounts for approximately 70-90% of the total environmental impact [6,7]. Thus, making the right decision on construction methods, materials and installations is critical to reducing environmental impact [6,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics

2017

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This study aims to propose design strategies for low environmental impact (low-EI) housing in the tropics while incorporating user needs to increase its acceptance in the market. The Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is adopted initially to draw the user needs for contemporary housing, after which the crucial design factors are identified. The analytic network process (ANP) and house of quality (HOQ) are further utilized to incorporate weightings of user needs into crucial design factors to establish appropriate design strategies. The results show "utility" (0.177), "durability" (0.169), and "comfort" (0.168) are the three greatest user needs for housing. After incorporating the weightings of user needs into design factors, building layout (0.334) and materials (0.302) turned out to be the most important considerations during the planning phase of the design procedure. Correspondingly, during the detailed design phase in the procedure, the most important factors are "low-EI material" (0.195), "orientation" (0.176), "building relationship" (0.158), and "energy-saving material" (0.107). The findings stress the significance of architectural programming and passive design for wider acceptance of low-EI housing in the tropics.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics

2017

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“…The environmental relevancy of the building sector has been illustrated in various studies from national/global material flow analyses (Behrens et al 2007) to object-specific life cycle assessments (Buyle et al 2013;Cabeza et al 2014).…”

Section: Introduction and Objectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of LCA in R&D by applying the concept of payback period: case study of a modified multilayer wood parquet

Hesser

Wohner

Meints

et al. 2016

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Improving technical properties and the durability of wood-based products by modification in various processing technologies is subject to recent research and development activities. This study aimed at integrating environmental considerations during the research and development phase of a novel modification process for a multilayer wood parquet. Due to expected challenges when applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in this phase, the eco-profile of the modified multilayer wood parquet was referred to the original multilayer parquet by estimating payback period and identifying other payback options. Methods An LCA was conducted during the research and development phase of the modification process at laboratory scale and is characterized as ex ante environmental screening of a newly developed technology. The environmental assessment of new products and manufacturing processes during the research and development phase, however, faces multifarious challenges, such as the definition of a functional unit and the service life length. In order to overcome these challenges, the idea was to answer the question under which circumstances the modification process pays back from the perspective of non-renewable energy use and global-warming potential. Aside from investigation of payback period, the feasibility of other payback options was systematically searched. Results and discussion The extra resource input and the resulting increase in environmental burden of the modification of the multilayer parquet can be justified with the extension of service life length by 10 to 20 %, referring to global warming potential and non-renewable energy use, respectively. Other payback options found were adjusting chemical loading during modification, making renovations superfluous, or reducing transport effort. Other than transportation and renovation, which are user-dependent, only the modification lies within the scope of the parquet producer. Conclusions The payback concept is found suitable for comparative estimations on the magnitude of change in environmental performance of product variants during research and development. By investigating on multiple payback options, it was enabled to frame the change in environmental performance, which is essential in order to define the scope of further research and development in a target-oriented way. The possibility of using LCA for an environmental technology valuation at an early stage in product and process development is demonstrated in this study.

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“…It brings major impacts on the depletion of finite resources, energy consumption, solid waste generation, pollution, and greenhouse gas emission [1,3,5,6]. Furthermore, growing public awareness of environmental issues also lead to more attention to sustainable development in construction [4]. A green building paradigm adds significant impetus to the construction industry nowadays in order to reduce environmental impacts as well as improve the sustainability performance of the industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing Key Parameters for Green Performance of Partition Wall Blocks

Goh

2016

MATEC Web Conf.

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Life cycle assessment in the construction sector: A review

Cited by 439 publications

References 57 publications

Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics

Demand-Oriented Design Strategies for Low Environmental Impact Housing in the Tropics

Integration of LCA in R&D by applying the concept of payback period: case study of a modified multilayer wood parquet

Developing Key Parameters for Green Performance of Partition Wall Blocks

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