The Limitations of LCA Methodology Towards Sustainable Construction Materials

Öztaş, Saniye Karaman

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-63709-9_8

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The basic life cycle approach is cradle to grave, which includes material extraction and processing, production, use, and end of life [29]. The LCA methodology is based on the ISO 14040 standard [30] according to which it proceeds according to four interactive stages: (i) defining the purpose and scope of the research, (ii) inventory, (iii) environmental impact assessment, and (iv) interpretation [31]. The use of LCA can support making more pro-ecological decisions throughout the life cycle, and it can also be a source of knowledge for selected phases of the cycle, including adapting the type of analysis to the desired criteria of environmental burdens [32,33].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the Ecological Footprint from the Extraction and Processing of Materials in the LCA Phase of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Siwiec,

Frącz,

Pacana

et al. 2024

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The development of batteries used in electric vehicles towards sustainable development poses challenges to designers and manufacturers. Although there has been research on the analysis of the environmental impact of batteries during their life cycle (LCA), there is still a lack of comparative analyses focusing on the first phase, i.e., the extraction and processing of materials. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to perform a detailed comparative analysis of popular electric vehicle batteries. The research method was based on the analysis of environmental burdens regarding the ecological footprint of the extraction and processing of materials in the life cycle of batteries for electric vehicles. Popular batteries were analyzed: lithium-ion (Li-Ion), lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), and three-component lithium nickel cobalt manganese (NCM). The ecological footprint criteria were carbon dioxide emissions, land use (including modernization and land development) and nuclear energy emissions. This research was based on data from the GREET model and data from the Ecoinvent database in the OpenLCA programme. The results of the analysis showed that considering the environmental loads for the ecological footprint, the most advantageous from the environmental point of view in the extraction and processing of materials turned out to be a lithium iron phosphate battery. At the same time, key environmental loads occurring in the first phase of the LCA of these batteries were identified, e.g., the production of electricity using hard coal, the production of quicklime, the enrichment of phosphate rocks (wet), the production of phosphoric acid, and the uranium mine operation process. To reduce these environmental burdens, improvement actions are proposed, resulting from a synthesized review of the literature. The results of the analysis may be useful in the design stages of new batteries for electric vehicles and may constitute the basis for undertaking pro-environmental improvement actions toward the sustainable development of batteries already present on the market.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the Ecological Footprint from the Extraction and Processing of Materials in the LCA Phase of Lithium-Ion Batteries

Siwiec,

Frącz,

Pacana

et al. 2024

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…On the other hand, the ISO standard leaves optional aspects and allows a subjective assessment (Cabeza et al 2014). A review of case studies on LCA in buildings showed that many of them concentrate in developed countries, and there are very few case studies outside them; there is even a lack of LCA studies in rural areas (Karaman 2018). Moreover, those case studies focus on low-energy buildings and are shown as model buildings.…”

Section: Gaps and Research Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A methodological approach to evaluate structural building projects through the Environmental Economic Index

Romo-Orozco

Contreras-Jiménez

Armenta

et al. 2021

Clean Techn Environ Policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The construction industry has a relevant social and economic role and has become critical to improving global sustainability. This industry contributes significantly to global CO 2 emissions due to embodied energy and operating energy. There are methodologies to assess them, but they lack integration with other variables such as safety and costs in buildings. These methodologies are complex and costly in economic and human resources, accentuated in small-scale building projects. This research proposes the Environmental Economic Index (EEI) to evaluate structural building projects and support decisionmaking, based on a simplified method that exchanges parametric design and project management information without requiring specialized knowledge. Its development was based on modeling different structures for the same building subjected to several operational and lateral loads, with structural concrete and structural steel; the case study was developed in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The concrete structure with seismic actions had a better result when comparing it with the other structural alternatives; for the same loads, the concrete structures were more economical; when modifying the loads to include seismic actions, the costs had an increase that is not significant when compared with the potential losses. Concrete structures would generate lower emissions and energy consumption quantified up to the construction stage regarding environmental impacts. The contribution of this work is to develop a simplified methodology to evaluate structural projects in the design phase, which integrates economic, environmental, and safety variables and supports decision-making by designers and real estate developers.

show abstract