Critical review of life cycle assessment (LCA) for the built environment at the neighborhood scale

Lotteau, Marc; Loubet, Philippe; Pousse, Maxime; Dufrasnes, Emmanuel; Sonnemann, Guido

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.06.029

Cited by 177 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…They can address the key challenges of time and resource use, both in exploring options and in transitioning through the design process. This is in line with Lotteau et al's [6] identification of a "clear research need for the development of approaches that would enable the contextualization of the assessment of energy consumption in buildings while remaining consistent with data availability in a project's early design phase". Writing on parametric design thinking, Oxman [70] states that "[s]cripting and tool-making are becoming required forms of knowledge in research, education, and practice".…”

Section: From Zeb To Zensupporting

confidence: 82%

“…The motivation for investigating parametric LCA models for ZEB and ZEN is the need for decision support that extends the scope of current approaches [12]. This is in line with Lotteau et al's [6] identification of a "clear research need for the development of approaches that would enable the contextualization of the assessment of energy consumption in buildings while remaining consistent with data availability in a project's early design phase".…”

Section: Aim Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 71%

“…An example of this is the zero emission buildings (ZEB) project [3,4], which led to the development of a parametric ZEB tool [4,5]. Recently, the focus has increased on the neighbourhood level, for example, as described by Lotteau et al [6], and has addressed projects such as ZEN [7], BREEAM Communities [8], PI-SEC [9], and so forth.…”

Section: Background: Reducing the Carbon Footprint Of Buildings And Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) to Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN): A Mapping Review of Algorithm-Based LCA

2018

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Abstract:The building industry is responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU). The most efficient way of reducing a building's environmental impact is addressing it in the design stage. Here, design freedom is the greatest, but uncertainty is high and there is a nearly limitless number of design options. Based on experiences with zero emission buildings (ZEB) and zero emission neighbourhoods (ZEN), a mapping review has been conducted to analyse how parametric life cycle assessment (LCA) and algorithms have been used to address neighbourhoods, buildings, and construction materials. Results have identified a general gap of knowledge regarding the use of parametric LCA models for decision-support purposes, demonstrated by the substantial focus on analytical methods compared to procedural methods. Implications for the evolution from ZEB to ZEN are twofold: (i) an integrated approach with multiple tools and methods is required, and (ii) further development of algorithms in the tool are needed to address complexity, sensitivity, and uncertainty. This study is expected to foster the development of algorithmic approaches to improve the ZEB tool as a decision-support tool. Further research should address the key questions of when and how.

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Section: From Zeb To Zensupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Aim Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 71%

Section: Background: Reducing the Carbon Footprint Of Buildings And Nmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) to Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN): A Mapping Review of Algorithm-Based LCA

2018

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“…A sustainable built environment is, therefore, inseparable from attempts to build sustainable communities [14,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. Maliene and Malys [52] developed a model of sustainable housing development for sustainable communities, which can be adapted to any town and which will help to create healthy and attractive communities.…”

Section: Criteria Of a Sustainable Built Environment And The Assessmementioning

confidence: 99%

MCDM Assessment of a Healthy and Safe Built Environment According to Sustainable Development Principles: A Practical Neighborhood Approach in Vilnius

Zavadskas¹,

Cavallaro

Podvezko³

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Urbanization has a massive effect on the environment, both locally and globally. With an ever-increasing scale of construction and manufacturing and misuse of energy resources come poorer air quality, growing mortality rates and more rapid climate change. For these reasons, a healthy and safe built environment is ever more in demand. Global debates focus on sustainable development of the built environment; a rational approach to its analysis is multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods. Alternative MCDM methods applied to the same problem often produce different results. In the search for a more reliable tool, this study proposes that a system of MCDM methods should be applied to a single problem. This article assesses 21 neighborhoods in Vilnius in the context of a healthy and safe built environment in view of the principles of sustainable development. MCDM methods were used for this purpose: entropy, Criterion Impact LOSs (CILOS) and Integrated Determination of Objective Criteria Weights (IDOCRIW) methods were used to determine the objective weights of the criteria, while expert judgement determined the subjective weights. With the overall weights determined, the Vilnius neighborhoods were assessed through the application of COmplex PRoportional ASsessment (COPRAS), Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and Evaluation based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) methods. The final results were then processed using the rank average method, Borda count and Copeland's method.

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“…Examples of tools and methods are various life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) tools such as life cycle costing (LCC), environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and social life cycle assessment (SLCA) [35,36]. Life cycle sustainability assessment tools have recently been applied in urban development to identify sustainable design and energy system options [37][38][39]. Through these tools a life cycle perspective in urban development is obtained and informed decisions can be made with a long term sustainable perspective.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable Urban Development Calls for Responsibility through Life Cycle Management

Ristimäki¹,

Junnila²

2015

Sustainability

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Urban development bestows a great opportunity to increase sustainability in the built environment as cities are responsible for the majority of environmental impacts. However, the urban development process is fragmented and sub-optimization leads to unsustainable life cycle outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine the urban development process from a life cycle perspective and identify how different actors understand life cycle management. By utilizing an inductive qualitative research design, 38 in-depth thematic interviews were conducted within the Finnish urban development industry including a case study and independent interviews from different phases of the urban development life cycle. The theoretical perspective is a combination of the ecosystem construct and life cycle management. Results show that there is no clear responsible actor for life cycle management in urban development. All actors claim that there is value to be added, mostly in economic, but also environmental and social terms. This study reveals that investors should be the responsible actor in the urban development process. By claiming responsibility and focusing on life cycle leadership we can improve sustainability in urban development, and respond to the urban sustainability challenge, thus improving the quality of life and welfare in our urban society.

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Critical review of life cycle assessment (LCA) for the built environment at the neighborhood scale

Cited by 177 publications

References 28 publications

From Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) to Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN): A Mapping Review of Algorithm-Based LCA

From Zero Emission Buildings (ZEB) to Zero Emission Neighbourhoods (ZEN): A Mapping Review of Algorithm-Based LCA

MCDM Assessment of a Healthy and Safe Built Environment According to Sustainable Development Principles: A Practical Neighborhood Approach in Vilnius

Sustainable Urban Development Calls for Responsibility through Life Cycle Management

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