BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

TOPIC : MODULE 3
LIFE CYCLE OF BUILDINGS AND MATERIALS

SUBMITED BY :
SUBMITED TO : NEERAJ
AR. IMTIYAZ ALI SHAHEEB
SIDDHESH
PRASHANTH
 BUILDING LIFE CYCLE
•Building life cycle refers to the view of a building over the course of its entire life - in
other words, viewing it not just as an operational building, but also taking into account
the design, construction, operation, demolition and waste treatment.
•It is useful to use this view when attempting to improve an operational feature of a
building that is related to how a building was designed. For example, overall energy
conservation.
•In the vast majority of cases there is less than sufficient effort put into designing a
building to be energy efficient and hence large inefficiencies are incurred in the
operational phase.
•Current research is ongoing in exploring methods of incorporating a whole life cycle
view of buildings, rather than just focusing on the operational phase as is the current
situation.
•The expression ‘life cycle of a building’ refers to the following phases: manufacture of
building materials, transport, construction of the building, occupancy/renovation, and
finally demolition and removal
OBJECTIvES OF LIFECYCLE BUILDING
• Create designs that facilitate local building materials reuse
• Consider the full lifecycle of buildings and materials—from resource
extraction through occupancy and, finally, deconstruction and reuse
• Focus on quality and creativity of designs and concepts
• Develop strategies that maximize materials recovery
• Reduce the overall embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions of
building materials through reuse
• Decrease environmental and economic costs
• Address real-world issues
DAMAGES IN BUILDINGS
 BUILDING REPAIRS :
• Building repairs and maintenance services mainly includes works undertaken for
maintaining proper condition of buildings, its services and works in ordinary use.
The use for which buildings are designed is the main factor in determining the
required standard of maintenance.
• Excessive building maintenance should be avoided. At the same time, building
maintenance should ensure safety to the occupant or the public and should
comply with the statutory requirements. The need also depends upon intensity
of usage.

• Types of Building Repair and Maintenance Services

• The types of building repair and maintenance service works are:
• Day to day repairs service facilities
• Annual repairs
• Special repairs
1. Day to Day Repairs
Day to day repairs include service repairs which arises from time to time in the services of the
buildings such as in plumbing works, water supply, etc.
Examples for such repairs are removing chokage of drainage pipes, manholes, restoration of
water supply, replacement of blown fuses, repairs to faulty switches, watering of plants, lawn
mowing, hedge cutting, sweeping of leaf falls etc.
The purpose of this maintenance service is to ensure satisfactory continuous functioning of
various services in the buildings.
2. Annual Repairs
This maintenance service is carried out to maintain the aesthetics of buildings and services as
well as to preserve their life, some works like white washing, distempering, painting, cleaning of
lines, tanks etc. are carried out periodically. These works are planned on year to year basis
3. Special Repairs
• Special repairs of building are undertaken to replace the existing parts of buildings
and services which get deteriorated on ageing of buildings. It is necessary to
prevent the structure & services from deterioration and restore it back to its original
conditions to the extent possible.

4. Additions and Alterations

• The works of additions/alterations are carried out in buildings to suit the special
requirements of occupants for functional efficiency. The facilities in buildings are
updated by carrying out such works.

5. Preventive Maintenance
• Preventive maintenance is carried out to avoid breakdown of machinery and
occurrence of maintenance problems in buildings and services. Works of preventive
maintenance are carried out on the basis of regular inspection survey.
• Preventive maintenance includes works to prevent deterioration of building parts
(which depends on climatic conditions), pollution, fungi, the insect attack,
subsidence, flooding, intensity of usage, careless usage, seepage etc..
ENVIRONMENTAL
OBJECTIVES, CRITERIA AND
ASSESSMENT METHODS
 Environmental objectives and assessment criteria
 Life cycle assessments of bull
 Tools for the ecological asses, of buildings

REPORT BY:
S RAKSHITH : 1BQ15AT075

SAHANA : 1BQ15AT079

SAVITA : 1BQ15AT084

SONY : 1BQ15AT094

SPOORTHI C : 1BQ15AT095

VEENA : 1BQ15AT107

VISHNU G P : 1BQ15AT112

SHRAVYASHREE:1BQ15AT146
11
ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES,CRITERIA AND ASSESSMENT METHODS
The newly built environment has a strong influence on public health and wellbeing.

the three environmental objectives of green building can be derived from these inter-
dependencies :

• protection of public health

• protection of ecosystems

• protection of resources

Based on these objectives, the building industry distinguishes between the two

 Objectives and activity areas of building biology and building ecology

 Protection goals of bulldog biology and building ecology

In building biology, the occupant is determined as the most important factor, and strategies are
implemented to assess.

The main task of a building biologist is therefore to improve the performance of buildings in
terms of their impact on public health by pursuing an integrated design approach. Building
ecology, in contrast, assesses the impact of buildings and construction materials on the
environment and develops strategies to minimise the corresponding negative effects during the
life cycle of the building (impact of the building on the environment).

A common goal of the two fields is the conservation of natural

resources. The slightly more qualitative analysis of build-ing
biology and the quantitative assess-ment of the environmental
impact charac-teristic of building biology complement one
another.

Close attention should be paid to balanc-ing and weighting the

various aspects of building biology and building ecology in
accordance with the specific project design.

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Building biology

Building biology is defined as the study of holistic intorrelationship between humans and their
living environment.

It is synonym for the environmentally friendly and pollution-free development of buildings.

Which are, at the same time, able to meet the occupants' requirements for a comfortable and
healthy living environment.

Healthy environments for flying, steeping and working

The aim is to achieve greater

• Comfort: among other things, it is possible to assess the impact of indoor air and surface
temperatures, air humidity or the colour and light con¬cepts applied within the building and
affecting the occupants.

• Wellbeing: this incorporates the

- analysis of biological, chemical and physical loads indoors

- taking measurements of pollutant emissions deriving from construction materials

- investigation into the concentration of dust and pollutants in indoor air

- surveying rooms for mould infection

- analysis and reduction of hazards caused by radon and electrosrnog indoors

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• Performance : an important aspect of building biology is to avoid the so-called 'sick
building syndrome", which is generally caused by indoor air pollution, carelessly maintained air
conditioning units, which can in turn lead to allergies, headaches, tiredness, infections and
asthma.

Protection of natural resources:

The protection of natural resources includes the following aspects:

• conservation of material resources

• conservation and rehabilitation 0, lard and soil

• sustainable management and conserva¬tion of biosphere

• prornotion of building materials recyclability.

Analysis of pollutants:

Valuation concepts:

With few exceptions, there are to date no legally binding linxt values for the pollut-ant load of
indoor air. In order to never-theless evaluate the danger of a pollutant. Guideline values are
defined according to two different methods:

• toxicologically derived assessment concepts

• statistically derived assessment concepts

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STATISTICALLY DERIVED ASSESSMENT CONCEPTS:
It is basically the result of a large number of comparative indoor air measurements ,if exceed
indicates a case of usual exposure .

PLANNING TOOLS

There are various assessment tools to help planners

select building materials and auxiliary building
materials that are not hazardous to health .type 1
environmental product decalarations,such as EMICODE
or EU ecolabel.However ,the overabundance of
information in this field is remarkable and not every
label provides the originally assumed justification
.Type 2 environmental product declarations which are
based on a life cycle assessment of the product
provides information on potential danger that has
already been identified.

The material safety data sheets provided by the manufacturers may also be helpful in
answering any questions concerning the pollutants in building materials .not only do they give a
detailed technical description of the product they also list ingredients specify any hazardous
substances including possible effects that may occur during processing installation or
disposal.SVCHC’S have serious and often irreversible effects on human health or the
environment and must therefore be avoided at all costs .GISBAU A service provided by the
construction industry trade associations .It is not mandatory to list these codes in product
brochures or data sheets .GISBAU also puts forward recommendations on the proper handling
of construction materials in workshops and on building sites.

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BUILDING ECOLOGY :

Ecology is the study of interactions among the living and non living components within the
environment .by developing ,operating and disposing of buildings ,humans severely disturb
ecological cycles,A building not only consumes raw materials ,energy ,water and ground during
its life cycle ,it also produces vast amounts of pollution and waste.

Building ecology is an attempt to depict the life cycle of construction materials, components and
buildings from the extraction of raw materials through the erection and operation of the
disposal .

The aim is to assess the potential environmental impacts resulting from the various phases ,as
well as the consumption of resources.

Resource conservation is the most important link between building biology and building
ecology .the building sector as the largest consumer of resources worldwide ,offers great
potential to reduce energy ,ground and material consumption ,because it is this sector that is
responsible for 30% of global carbondioxide emissions and 40% of global primary energy
consumption.

Material consumption can be reduced considerably by developing and applying new more
environmentally friendly building products, increasing the possibilities for reuse and recyclying,
improving their durability ,and constructing buildings using comprehensive resource
conservation methods .

LIVE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BUILDINGS:

LCA has become effective tool to evaluate the potential empacts buildings and components have
on the environment during their life cycle .

The ISO standards 14040 describes the general approach and principles of LCA .

LCA is a method of calculate the material and energy flows ,where all inputs amount of raw
materials and energy and outputs during the full LCA of a product system .

The relation between energy flows and environmental impacts always refers to the specific
function that the product system.the potential environmental impacts are identified according
to the individual inputs and outputs and by using functional unit expressed in relation to the
objective and scope of the LCA.

On a material level the production and disposal of a product are usually the main aspects of
considerstions .the aim is o minimise the use of energy and resources as well as resulting impact
on the environment .

The LCA assessment method according to ISO 14040 is divided into four successive phases :

 Goal and scope definition

 Inventory analysis
 Impact assessment
 Interpretation

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Goal and scope definition :

The definition of goal and scope of the assessment is determined in the first phase .The aim is to
identify issues and questions which should be dealt with in the LCA .The information is then
used as a basis to clarify where the system boundary of the assessment lies and which product
processes.Once all objectives and issues have been clarified ,the process of the LCA study is
determined .the aim here is to develop a strategy to achieve the previously defined goals and
plan the necessary stages .the life cycles of the buildings are modelled in detail on a material
level .the following aspects are the developing strategy :

 Definition of system boundary

 Choice of suitable allocatiom method
 Definitiom of functional unit
 Determination of suitable database and data quality
 Identification of assumptions for the LCA modelling
 Approach
 Selection of appropriate impact categories
 And indicators .

SELECTING THE ALLOCATION METHOD :

Allocation is always an issue in a LCA when several co proucts result from one production
process .this can be resolved by sharing the inputs and outputs .This is particulary important In
a building context when producing a life cycle inventory analysis for building materials .

In order to model the energy processes and the component and material processes in the LCA
the planner should collect life cycle inventory data sets from reliable sources .

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Functional unit

The first phase of LCA also includes the definition of the functional unit .the intention is that it
determines the specific function that a product system must fulfil during its service life .the
functional unit is therefore designed to standardise a LCA according to the performance of a
particular task including both quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Qualitative aspects can have a much greater influence on the LCA of a building than is evident at
first sight

User flexibility

Linear access corridors provide for greater user flexibility in the way as switch rooms larger
span lengths and higher imposed loads .The three aspects neutrality of use pre planned
adaptability and acceptable restrictions os use are important considerations in the context .

Implementation of compensatory measures :

In some cases especially with regards to noise and fire protection requirements ,which would
usually be by applying suitable components can also satisfied by using compensatory measures
.the problem arising from this strategy is that the respective material performance and
environmental impact can be attributed only partially to a single building components .

Interdeoendence of building components

It is virtually impossible to avoid interdependencies between building components and

therefore they occur frequently in design projects .technical installations can also have
structural consequences .the aim is to generally prevent point and strip shaped elements from
changing the configuration of a whole layer .

SYSTEM BOUNDARY

The system boundary is selected according to the initially defined objective of the LCA .The
figure shows the level of detail in the LCA of buildings Component and material.

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INTERDEPENDENCE OF BUILDING COMPONENTS

EXAMPLE:

A complex floor slab construction with a correspondingly large construction height result in an
increase of the façade surface area.

A light, wide-span structural system may require a greater input of material at the supports in
order to prevent load-bearing elements(floor slabs or girders) from inducing a punching effect.

An overview of all interdependencies and links between the building components must be done
at an early stage, which will be analysed in the life cycle assessment and to roughly estimate the
significance of the relationships. The results allow for a definition of a functional unit.

Different functional units can be applied to achieve a certain objective. Different functional
units can produce significant variation in the results.

The choice of functional unit can also influence the results of analysis considerably

EX: the results of a building life cycle assessment refers to 1m2 of floor area, the numerical
values tend to be much lower than if the study had referred to 1m2 of treated floor area. The
environment impact of the building can appear less severe if it is expressed by a cleverly chosen
functional unit.

DATA & DATA QUALITY REQUIEMENTS

• Selection of suitable & quality database for all materials and energy flows.

• Obtained from: professional inventory databases type iii environmental product

declarations according to ISO 14025 &ISO 15804 manufacturers

• Advisable to use data from database with a high degree of transparency.

ASSUMPTIONS FOR LIFE CYCLE ASSESMENT MODELLING

• It is important, to clearly document & describe the assumptions taken. The impact these
have on the results of the life cycle assessment should be checked carefully in a
sensitivity analysis.

SELECTING IMPACT CATEGORIES AND INDICATORS

• Their task is to help illustrate the environmental impacts of all products and processes
examined.

• Primary energy input -to produce a product or material.

• Cumulative energy demand describes the total input of primary energy required for the
production, use and disposal of a product.

• The impact category “climate change” is expressed by the global warming

potential(GWP).It is the impact on the earth’s atmosphere associated with the
anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases which absorb infrared radiation which
increases the temperature of the troposphere.

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 • The ozone depletion potential(ODP) is an indicator for the thinning & depletion of ozone
layer in the stratosphere. Chlorinated hydrocarbons(CFC) are particularly destructive to
the ozone layer.

• Photochemical oxidants formation- photochemical smog consists of products of nitric

oxide or hydrocarbons formed in the lowest part of the atmosphere under the influence
of sunlight. High concentrations of this smog I the air has toxic effect on human health.

• Acidification potential(AP)- destruction of ecosystems caused by acidification of ground

& water bodies by sulphur dioxide or nitrous gases.

• Eutrophication potential(EP)- the higher concentration of nutrients in the ground &

fresh water bodies due to fertilizers & nitrous oxide in air results in excessive growth of
unwanted algae in water& weed on land.

LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY(LCI)

• Developing a detailed model of the product’s life cycle. The basic conditions determined
during the first phase of life cycle assessment including all the data concerning the
quantities of materials, energy flow & quality of materials are compiled & assigned to
the previously defined functional unit.

• The actual modeling is performed by using a life cycle assessment software tool or by
compiling the data in a simple spreadsheet program.

LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT

• The life cycle impact assessment is designed to allocate specific environmental impacts
to the input and output flows determined in the life cycle inventory analysis phase.

• This is performed by assigning the individual inventory parameters to so- called impact
categories. Which represent the potential environmental impacts.

• The categories cover a variety of aspects, including consumption of resources, effects on

human health and ecological hazards.

• The process of allocating the life cycle inventory items to impact categories is referred to
as classification stage.

• It includes, for example, assigning the greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide, and methane
to the impact category “climate change” or chlorofluorocarbons to the impact category
“ozone depletion”.

LIFE CYCLE INTERPRETATION

Finally, in the life cycle interpretation phase, the results of the inventory analysed, evaluated
and used to answer the original questions. The objective of the life cycle assessment presented
here was to discover which life cycle phases of the cycle assessment presented here was to
discover which life cycle phases of the building examined have the largest impact on the
environment.

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 • Joint research center of European commission has published information on life cycle
assessment tools

• It gives overview of most well known databases and tools

• EN ISO 14040 and 14044 provides general overview of conceptual definition ,

framework and individual steps in life cycle assessment

• They leave a lot of individual room for interpretation

• Even if the very same item is under examination the outcome may differ fundamentally

• EN 15978 gives future clarification calculation

• The modular format simplifies the communication of the selected system boundary

• Also explain how building poduct data from environmental product declration is used
in development

• EN 15804 prvides information for performnce

The building certification system BREEAM and LEED take mainly environmental aspects with
strong force of energy performance on building

In BREEAM and LEED assessment is based on use of material, quantitative calculation

BREEAM is fairly advanced in integration of life cycle assessment where as LEED incorporates
only as test criteria

It is mainly based on construction, transportation, maintenance, , acidification and

eutrophication potential’ deconstruction and disposal and global warming potential, ozone
depletion potential

BREEAM scoping system- unclassified ,pass , good, vey good,excellent and outstanding

LEED- silver, gold and platinum

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 • In UK government established code for sustainable homes in order to evaluate the
performance of new dwelling with regard to categories of energy co2 emission,
pollution, water health and wellbeing material

• Minergie and std for sustainable building in Switzerland

• Assessment of low energy houses

• Minergie p label for standard comparable to that of passive house building

• Minergie A label for nearly net zero energy building

• Minergie ECO label can be combined with either of the two.

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

The analysis of environmental impacts includes the evaluation of:

 Global Warming Potential(GWP).

 Ozone Depletion Potential(ODP).
 Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential(POCP).
 Acidification Potential(AP).
 Eutrophication Potential(EP).
 Non-Renewable Primary Energy Demand(PE).
 Total Primary Energy Demand and Proportion of Renewable Primary Energy(PE).

DGNB Certification Systems categorises the results according to three levels:

1. Bronze.
2. Silver.
3. Gold.

TQB(A)

 Total Quality Building.It is managaed by the Austrian Sustainable Building Council.

 It was first published in 2002.It is now well established on the Austrian Market.
 In the TQB building certification system,the three environmental categories are assessed
together:
1. Non-Renewable Primary Energy Demand.
2. Global Warming Potential.
3. Acidification Potential.

HQE(F)

Haute Qualite Environnmentale is a standard for green building in France.

It aims in optimizing the indoor air quality as well as the environmental performance of
buildings.

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LIFE CYCLE DATABASE

No.of datasets:

 European reference life cycle datsbase : 330 datasets.

 German Okobau.dat :700 datasets.
 Austrian IBO : 500 datasets.
 Swiss KBOB :150.
 U.S life cycle inventory database : more than 900 datasets.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESMENT SOFTWARE

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Software products:

 Sima Pro-Ecoinvent life cycle inventory database.

 GaBi-datasets from PE International’S GaBi database.
 Umberto-makes use of both Sima Pro and GaBi.
 OPEN LCA-features a broad range of databases.They must be purchased as licences
before they can be utilized.
 LEGEP and SBS Tool-specifically designed for life cycle assessment of buildings.
 LESOSAI-Swiss Tool.
 ECAT(Energy and Carbon Assessment Tool)-Based in UK.
It is an adaptation of the Swiss Tool(Lesosai) designed to meet UK market requirements.

 Athena Impact Estimator for buildings-USA.

It is used for both new buildings and refurbishments.

 EQUER-Utilized by architects and engineers in France for the LCA simulation of

buildings.
It can be used in conjunction with generic data from the Swiss Ecoinvent database as
well as other life cycle inventory data.

Concrete as a material

“Let’s hope its concrete”- a statement invented in 1991 can be interpreted as a

manifestation of a universal phenomenon among architects.

 It is closely linked to contemporary architecture

 malleability, monolithic appearance, homogeneous surface
 easily available everywhere, low production cost, simple implementation on site
 thermal storage capacity, noise reduction, excellent fire protection properties

Negative environmental effect: production of cement is an extremely energy-intensive

process. Large amount of carbon dioxide is released.
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CASE STUDY: Office building in Krems

The aim of the project was to reach Passive House Standard, reduce embodied energy in the
executed construction to an absolute minimum

This was the end result of a two-stage competition in 2005 with the objective of housing the
administration of the district capital of Krems.

The winning entry, which is the new building, blends into the existing building stock. All the
three blocks are connected by a central north-south axis incorporating not only the two bridges
but also four entrances on ground floor level.

Methods to reduce environmental impact:

 Reduction of slab’s span and thickness

 Use of precast concrete hollow slabs, minimization of load bearing concrete walls, use of
recycled concrete as aggregate

Construction and material specifications:

 Built as a solid construction using in situ concrete

 Exterior: 20cm thick composite thermal insulation system using grey EPS
 36cm insulation on roof

Reduction of embodied energy by using low-carbon dioxide concrete, by using CEM III-B with a
70% content of blast furnace slag

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Salient features:

FSI=4, resulting in the achievement of extraordinary high density

 Daylight penetration into access and recreation zones at centre of the buildings.
 Window to wall ratio of 25%
 Addition of opaque ventilation sashes at the sides of the fixed glass aluminum framed
windows.
 Overheating in summer is prevented by:

a. Limited heat input through small amount of window surface area, the use of sun shading
devices, also taking advantage of concrete’s thermal mass

b. Exhaust air-cooled adiabatically by cold water spray in summer leading to the reduction of
temperature by 4-5 degrees.

 Groundwater from purpose-built extraction well is used for flushing toilets, adiabatic
cooling.
 Daylight conditions in office are regulated by centrally controlled sun shading systems.
However, the blinds can be operated manually too.

Building Logistics:

 Emission class Euro 4 of trucks during

earth and construction

 Reduced amount of VOCs introduced into

building

 Low emission interiors- low levels of VOC

and formaldehyde

Design and construction process:

 Maximum permitted window-to-wall ratio

of 25% - significant impact on building’s
appearance

 Recommended use of clay boards and tiles

or porcelain stoneware flooring, in the
interior, planting green roofs and replacing
the asphalt surfaces outside with water
absorbing materials.

 saving potential is also considerable in

comparison to façade constructions made
of regular concrete.

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