Environmental and health related criteria for buildings - ANEC

IBO - Environmental and Health related Criteria for Buildings
Transports to and from sites (for construction, refurbishment, and removal of buildings) are
required in an overall LCA. They contribute to only 4% of the total embodied non-renewable
primary energy over the whole lifecycle. An overall assessment of primary energy does not
allow differentiation. Therefore, it is more effective to optimise the traffic-related energy
consumption to and from site by indicators requiring the use of (low-emitting) vehicles with
efficient diesel consumption than to limit the overall primary energy demand over the
lifecycle.
8. LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
8.1. Introduction
Scope
ANEC has commissioned several studies and already formed its opinion about LCA as well
as its application in building assessment. Hence, the following chapter concentrates on the
compilation of the main findings in the relevant studies and on recommendations concerning
the use of LCA in building assessment systems.
A detailed analysis of the use of LCA in the existing building assessment systems is not
carried out since LCA-methodology is clearly defined in ISO 14040 and 14044. The various
building assessment systems differ concerning the used indicators, the considered life cycle
stages and the weighting and benchmarking of the indicators. Besides, some findings about
the use of LCA-indicators in building assessment systems were already listed in chapter
“Energy and CO 2 -emission”.
Hence, we preferred relying the conclusions and recommendations concerning the use of
LCA in building assessment systems on the following meta-studies (see also chapter “3.2
Background”):
- European Commission / Joint Research Centre: Environmental improvement potential of
residential buildings (IMPRO-Building, 2008)
- European Commission / Joint Research Centre: Environmental Impact of Products
(EIPRO). Analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts related to the final
consumption of the EU-25 (EIPRO, 2006)
- ANEC / Öko-Institut, Ökopol: Environmental product indicators and benchmarks in the
context of environmental labels and declarations (PRAKASH, REINTJES, 2008)
and on own experience with and knowledge of life cycle assessment of buildings.
(Very) short introduction to life cycle assessment (LCA)
Life cycle assessment (LCA) stands for “compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs
and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle” (ISO
14040). It is a technique to assess the environmental aspects and potential impacts
associated with a product, process, or service, by:
- compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases
(“LCI - Life Cycle Inventory”);
Final Report 82 31 03 2011