Life-cycle assessment

Defining Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

• Life-cycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis)

• It is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with

all the stages of the life-cycle of a commercial product, process, or
service as cradle to grave.

• For instance, in the case of a manufactured product, environmental

impacts are assessed from raw material extraction and processing
(cradle), through the product's manufacture, distribution and use, to the
recycling or final disposal of the materials composing it (grave).
Goal of LCA

• The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental effects

assignable to products and services

• All inputs and outputs of material flow are quantified

• How the material flow (transportation at all stages) affect the

environment is assessed

• This information is used to improve processes, support policy and provide

a sound basis for informed decisions
LCA of a Building

• The intent remains the same : Building LCA is used to calculate the
environmental impacts, including carbon footprint, of a product, service,
or process.
Carbon Footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused by
an individual, service or product in form of CO2

• Building Life Cycle Assessment is the most reliable way to assess how
sustainable a building is
LCA of a Building

• Building Life Cycle Assessment does not evaluate only carbon footprint,
but many more impact categories, in order to fully understand the effects
of a building on the ecosystem

• For example, Global warming potential, which is one of the impact

categories measured in Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment according,
measures the impact of all greenhouses gases emissions, including but
carbon and other gases

• Stronger overall analytical tool to examine, assess and provide

alternatives to reduce the undesirable impact of construction
GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL

• It is a measure of how much energy the emissions of 1 ton of a gas will

absorb over a given period of time, relative to the emissions of 1 ton of
carbon dioxide (CO2)

• The larger the GWP, the more a given gas warms the Earth compared to
CO2
LCA of a Building

• Buildings have a high energy demand and high carbon emissions

• Construction industry is highly impacting climate change by creating 30%

pollution globally.

• By using LCA on buildings, we can learn how a building will affect the
environment throughout its existence / life span and derive measure to
reduce environmental Impact.
https://www.rockwoolgroup.com/our-thinking/blog/life-cycle-assessment-in-a-nutshell/
Considerations for LCA of a Building

•Product Stage – The product stage includes all the processes related to the
impacts that building materials have until the factory gate. This refers to the
impacts from the extraction of raw materials and their transport to the
factory, emissions at time of manufacturing etc.

•Construction process stage – The construction process stage includes

impacts from the factory gate of the different construction products to the
practical completion of the construction work;

•Use Stage – The use stage refers to impacts from the operation of the
building – the impacts of the use, refurbishment, repair, maintenance of
construction products and services and most importantly, the energy and
water consumed during the building’s lifetime.

•End of life stage - This includes the impacts from the demolition of the
building, the transport of the waste to the final destination of their disposal,
their processing in the waste facility and their final disposal;
Steps to doing the LCA of a Building

•Information about the building: This may include the Bill of Materials for all
the building parts, their service life, the building area, the energy
consumption during usage etc.

•Tools & Data: This includes calculation tools for an LCA assessment.
These tools also offer generic information about the environmental
impacts of building materials
Environmental Product Declarations from specific product
manufacturers mentions details of that product

•LCA assumptions: These include preliminary assumptions based on the

stages and impact categories selected as well as general assumptions
about the future stages of the life cycle, e.g. disposal routes and types of
transport etc.
Embodied Energy
Defining Embodied Energy

Embodied energy is the total

energy consumed by all of the processes
associated with the production of a
material, from the mining and processing
of natural resources to manufacturing,
transport and product delivery.
Defining Embodied Energy

• Embodied energy is the sum of all the energy required to produce any goods or services,
considered as if that energy was incorporated or 'embodied' in the product itself.

• Embodied energy does not include the operation and disposal energy of the building
material,

• One fundamental purpose for measuring this quantity is to compare the amount of
energy produced or saved by the product to the amount of energy consumed in
producing it.

• Although most of the focus for improving energy efficiency in buildings has been on their
operational emissions, it is estimated that about 30% of all energy consumed throughout
the lifetime of a building can be in its embodied energy
Assessing Embodied Energy

The embodied energy contained in the structure is difficult to assess. This energy use is often
hidden.

It also depends on what is considered in the assessment process.

For example, whether to include:

• The energy used to transport the materials and workers to the building site
• Materials for the construction of the building shell or all materials used to complete the
building such as bathroom and kitchen fittings, driveways and outdoor paving
• The upstream energy input in making the materials and maintenance machinery
• The embodied energy of urban infrastructure (roads, drains, water and energy supply).
Assessing Embodied Energy

Gross energy requirement (GER) is a measure of the true embodied energy of a material,
which would ideally include processing and operational energy.

Process energy requirement (PER) is a measure of the energy directly related to the
manufacture of the material.

PER accounts for 50–80% of GER depending upon the number of years a material is used.