Environmental and health related criteria for buildings - ANEC
Environmental and health related criteria for buildings - ANEC
Environmental and health related criteria for buildings - ANEC
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IBO - <strong>Environmental</strong> <strong>and</strong> Health <strong>related</strong> Criteria <strong>for</strong> Buildings<br />
- since it can be shown that most LCA-indicators correlate strongly with energy (IMPRO,<br />
2008).<br />
- since the POCP-indicator of a building mainly results from the VOC-emissions of solventbased<br />
building materials. In this case the <strong>criteria</strong> shall be based on the avoidance of the<br />
use of these products instead of an elaborate LCA-indicator (LIPP, 2010).<br />
Based on this fundamental statement, we recommend the following implementation of LCA in<br />
building assessment tools:<br />
Primary energy use <strong>and</strong> greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are good proxy indicators to<br />
assess the environmental per<strong>for</strong>mance of the <strong>buildings</strong> (IMPRO, 2008). The gain in<br />
in<strong>for</strong>mation by taking other LCA-indicators in account is questionable, whereas leaving them<br />
out saves oneself the question of weighting the indicators.<br />
The compactness of the building could also be a good first proxy indicator <strong>for</strong> the<br />
environmental per<strong>for</strong>mance of the building.<br />
We recommend considering the use phase (<strong>for</strong> more details see chapter “Energy <strong>and</strong> CO 2 -<br />
emissions”) <strong>and</strong> the manufacturing of the construction materials (cradle to gate) within a<br />
proxy LCA. The construction operation can be neglected <strong>and</strong> the improvement options <strong>for</strong><br />
disposal processes could be expressed much better with the help of qualitative indicators<br />
(MÖTZL, 2009). All considered life-cycle stages of the building should be regarded<br />
separately.<br />
The renovation cycles should be taken into account – in principle, unless the service life of<br />
the building is limited with as short periods of service life as in IMPRO-study (40 years) or<br />
DGNB (50 years). Reference values <strong>for</strong> renovation cycles were proposed in ZELGER et al<br />
(2009) <strong>for</strong> instance.<br />
According to IMPRO (2008) the impacts caused by the construction phase of new building<br />
primarily stem from the construction of the exterior walls, the basement, <strong>and</strong> floors/ceilings.<br />
Interior walls, roof <strong>and</strong> windows only play a minor role. Our own LCA-calculations however<br />
show that the roof (in single-family houses) <strong>and</strong> the windows play must not be<br />
underestimated. Hence, we recommend taking all listed constructions into account. Interior<br />
<strong>and</strong> exterior doors, paintings, adhesives, screws <strong>and</strong> other auxiliary materials can be<br />
neglected or roughly estimated.<br />
Calculations can be made on the basis of (agreed) generic data. Methodological<br />
conventions (e.g. which energy mix to be used) must be established at the regulatory level in<br />
Europe. St<strong>and</strong>ardisation should not be considered as sufficient to this end.<br />
It is strongly recommended to focus on different instruments, such as environmental<br />
impact assessment, chemical risk assessment etc. <strong>for</strong> measuring the non-LCA-indicators.<br />
There is no need to restrict the environmental assessment to mathematical operationalisation<br />
of environmental mechanism as it is practised by CEN/TC 350 at the moment. As has been<br />
shown in building assessment systems <strong>and</strong> product labelling <strong>for</strong> many years, the<br />
characterisation models of non-LCA-indicators could be <strong>for</strong>malised operations based on<br />
measurements or qualitative inventory in<strong>for</strong>mation.<br />
Final Report 9 31 03 2011