Life cycle assessment of residential buildings: a review of methodologies

Abstract

Global warming is the greatest environmental challenge that humanity is phasing. Water availability and biodiversity are also important issues of concern. Efforts towards achieving a sustainable path are required in all major sectors. The construction and infrastructure sector is an important contributor to global resource depletion and environmental impact. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a frequently used tool to assess the potential environmental impact of a product or service throughout its life cycle. The life cycle of a product involves the extraction of raw materials, processing, production, use, and end-of-life. The environmental performance is quantified according to several impact categories such as: global warming, abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, photochemical oxidation, among others. LCA has been applied with success in the construction and infrastructure sector, in particular for buildings of all types. Literature in LCA of buildings use a variety of methodological approaches. The objective of this literature review is to identify and compare the different methodological approaches used in LCA of residential buildings, with a particular focus on functional unit, system boundaries, environmental impact categories, and data quality. The review indicates that there are different approaches used depending on the objective of each particular study.

Effect of Environmental Management Practices and Sustainability on Some Selected Manufacturing Firms in South East Nigeria

“…Reference [44] stated that life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a commonly utilized apparatus to analyze the potential environmental effect of a product or services for an incredible duration cycle. Reference [45] expressed that LCA systems have been utilized for the environmental evaluation of the product for quite a while, yet applications to the manufacturing businesses showed up as of late, just before the start of the 21st century. It has been effectively used to assess the ecological effect and vitality on the performance of structures and building materials.…”

A review of building life cycle assessment software tools: Challenges and future directions

“…Cabeza et al [30] identified seventeen different BLCA STs and list the coverage of each tool in terms of building life cycle stages towards facilitating an environmental certification system. Petroche et al [31] analyzed the standard parameters of five BLCA STs which focused on providing a new classification of the parameters to define the goal and scope of BLCAs.…”

Environmental impact analysis of five family houses in Eastern Slovakia through a life cycle assessment

“…Similarly, Asdrubali et al [17] performed LCAs of a multi-storey office building, a multifamily residential building and a detached house in Italy and showed that the operational phase had the greatest contribution to the total impact, ranging from 77% (detached house) to 85% (office building), while the impact of the construction phase ranged from 14% (office building) to 21% (detached house). Petroche et al [18] also found that the operational phase of residential buildings is responsible for the greatest burden in all impact categories except ozone layer depletion, which represents a substantial burden only during the construction phase. On the other hand, an LCA of a two-storey residential building in Canada found that not only the operational but also the construction phase had a significant environmental impact, with the roof and walls accounting for most of the burden [1].…”