Implementing Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment in Building and Energy Retrofit Design—An Investigation into Challenges and Opportunities

Toosi, Hashem Amini; Lavagna, Monica; Leonforte, Fabrizio; Pero, Claudio Del; Aste, N.

doi:10.1007/978-981-16-4562-4_6

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 158 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The use of LCA Life Cycle Assessment (Environmental), LCC Life Cycle Costing (economic), and S-LCA Social-LCA (social) is not as widespread as it should be, and the crucial point is the synthesis of the three aspects [24]. Moreover, the theme of the synthesis between different indicators is also a crucial aspect of the LCA itself: the results frequently exhibit opposite trends when compared to different impact indicators, making it difficult to make a decision because it is impossible to determine which indicator is the most important.…”

Section: Life Cycle Assessment -Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Selicati¹,

Cardinale²

2023

JSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The modelling of complex technological systems serves as the foundation for enhancing process performance, including sustainability features (triple-bottom line). The European Green Deal, proposed in 2019, aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and foster a resource-independent economy. Such a change must be carefully planned. Comprehensive sustainability protocols and guidelines are necessary to describe the standardized methodological procedure, the environmental certification procedures that allow market comparability and identification of the best solutions, the databases, the calculation tools and software, and the benchmark and target with which to make comparison. Policies and regulatory or incentive instruments promote the broad adoption of these approaches and ensure that policies reduce environmental, economic, and social impacts. This paper consists in an overview of sustainability assessment tools' role in energy policy and shortand long-term modeling of more eco-friendly energy-product systems. Additionally, the paper explores these methods' pros and cons in planning, analyzing, and optimizing energy/product systems, also according to the circular economy paradigm. All of these strategies aim to help the decision-maker make more consistent judgments by taking into consideration essential objective, such as end user or stakeholder demands, and minimizing subjective elements. An extensive listing of Sustainability accreditation and communication tools is provided. Sustainability assessment is an evaluation and optimization method that promotes sustainable development in all political planning and decision-making. It examines the social, economic, and environmental effects, finds conflicting goals, and recommends early optimization. Potentially, sustainability assessment should be integrated into the political planning process and depend on domain-specific research and assessments that currently exist or are planned, such as in combination with decision-making. Sustainability assessment is not designed to be an extra analytical tool. A sector-specific environmental or economic study from a strategic environmental analysis or regulatory effect analysis may be crucial to a sustainability assessment.

show abstract

Section: Life Cycle Assessment -Lcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Selicati¹,

Cardinale²

2023

JSE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Despite all previously developed methods, they are still known as open challenges in the field of environmental sustainability assessment methods [10]. The challenges mentioned above are examples of those widely discussed as a topic of study in the environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of the built environment [11].…”

Section: The Classification Of the Existing Challenges In Sustainabil...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The procedural challenge includes, but is not limited to, defining the minimum required data communication amongst involved groups to flawlessly carry out each step of the assessment, decision-making, and implementation. For instance, the lack of data in environmental sustainability assessment is still a severe barrier to fully employing life cycle environmental assessment in building science [12]. Furthermore, implementing the results of sustainability assessment into policies, resolving the conflicts of stakeholders in the building sector, coordinating stakeholders, etc., are other examples of procedural challenges regarding sustainability in the building sector.…”

Section: The Classification Of the Existing Challenges In Sustainabil...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…environmental sustainability assessment is still a severe barrier to fully employing life cycle environmental assessment in building science [12]. Furthermore, implementing the results of sustainability assessment into policies, resolving the conflicts of stakeholders in the building sector, coordinating stakeholders, etc., are other examples of procedural challenges regarding sustainability in the building sector.…”

Section: The Classification Of the Existing Challenges In Sustainabil...mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Towards Sustainability Assessment of the Built Environment: A Classification of the Existing Challenges

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The application of sustainability assessment in a decision context is associated with various challenges that explain why the transition to action-oriented knowledge still needs to be fulfilled. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the associated challenges in sustainability assessment in the decision context of the built environment. Several publications are reviewed to provide a systemic understanding of the associated complexities. The challenges in sustainability assessment in the built environment are categorized at different levels, from understanding to measurement and implementation. The challenges are further categorized into definition, context, interpretation, data, measurement methods, uncertainties, indicators and indices, results, coordination, conflicts, and action-oriented knowledge. Moreover, according to the nature of each challenge, they are classified into epistemological, methodological, and procedural challenges. The novelty of this review is that it reviews and reports almost all fragmentedly reported challenges in sustainability assessment of the built environment in the literature within a holistic framework that provides a clear understanding of the state of the art and second discusses them within an integrated framework (the Sustainability Assessment Network) including the position of active-role players to resolve them, including strategists, scientist, and stakeholders.

show abstract

“…However, the S-LCA is still in its infancy and has not yet formed a formal international standard. In addition, the aggregation of LCA, LCC, and S-LCA across the three pillars and systematic decision making remains controversial [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analyzing the Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability of Prefabricated Components: Modeling and Case Study

Chen,

Su,

Yuan

et al. 2023

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The building industry has significant environmental, economic, and social impacts. The trend of construction industrialization to promote sustainable development is becoming increasingly evident. As an essential component of this process, prefabricated components provide a foundation for studying the sustainability of prefabricated buildings. This study proposes a life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) model involving environmental, economic, and social aspects to assess the sustainability of prefabricated components. The sustainability impacts on the raw material extraction and production, off-plant transport, material processing and component manufacturing, on-plant transport, and component storage stages are comprehensively assessed. The LCSA model is applied to four types of prefabricated components: interior wallboards, precast stairs, composite beams, and composite floor slabs. The results show that the precast stairs exhibit the highest sustainability score and that the performances of environmental, economic, and social pillars of four components are slightly different. These findings enhance our understanding of the sustainability of prefabricated components and broaden the scope of LCSA applications. The established sustainability assessment model is expected to help guide prefabrication scheme designs and production plan optimization, further encouraging the wider adoption of sustainable practices in construction.

show abstract

Implementing Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment in Building and Energy Retrofit Design—An Investigation into Challenges and Opportunities

Cited by 9 publications

References 158 publications

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Sustainability Assessment Techniques and Potential Sustainability Accreditation Tools for Energy-Product Systems Modelling

Towards Sustainability Assessment of the Built Environment: A Classification of the Existing Challenges

Analyzing the Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability of Prefabricated Components: Modeling and Case Study

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About