the life cycle performance of sustainable renovation concepts

BENEFITS AND LIMITATIONS OF LCABENEFITSThis section describes the benefits of a LCA.A LCA can help decision-makers select the product or process which results in the leastenvironmental impact. With other factors, such as cost and performance data, thisinformation can be used to select a product or process. LCA data identifies the transfer ofenvironmental impacts from one media to another (SAIC, 2006).Besides that, SAIC (2006) states that the ability to track and document shifts inenvironmental impacts can help decision makers characterize the environmental tradeoffsassociated with product or process alternatives.By performing an LCA, analysts can (SAIC, 2006):- develop a systematic evaluation of the environmental consequences associated with agiven product.- analyze the environmental trade-offs associated with one or more specificproducts/processes to help gain stakeholder (state, community, etc.) acceptance fora planned action.- quantify environmental releases to air, water, and land in relation to each life cyclestage and/or major contributing process.- assist in identifying significant shifts in environmental impacts between life cyclestages and environmental media.- assess the human and ecological effects of material consumption and environmentalreleases to the local community, region, and world.- compare the health and ecological impacts between two or more rivalproducts/processes or identify the impacts of a specific product or process.- identify impacts to one or more specific environmental areas of concern.LIMITATIONSNext to the benefits, SAIC (2006) also describe the limitations of a LCA. The limitationsof LCA are presented in the bullets below.- Performing a LCA can be resource and time intensive. This depends upon howthorough the user wants to execute the LCA and on the availability of the requireddata. Therefore, it is important to weigh the availability of data and the time that isneeded to conduct the study.- LCA does not say anything about the economic attractiveness of alternatives. Additivestudies should be conducted to gain information about the economics of alternatives.- There are a number of ways to conduct life cycle impact assessment. While themethods are typically scientifically-based, the complexity of environmental systemshas led to the development of alternative impact models.- To convert the impact results into a single score requires the use of value judgments,which must be applied by the executer of the study.3.6 LIFE CYCLE COSTINGThe private sector decision making contexts addressed by a life cycle assessment, mustalso take the economic consequences of alternative products into account (Norris, 2001).Norris (2001) also describes that the current LCA methodologies and tools do not addressinternal or external economic aspects in the decision making.According to Norris, the exclusion of life cycle costs into life cycle assessment has thefollowing consequences:42