Analysis of Whole Building Life Cycle Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Tools

Abstract

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) tools are key mechanisms that link the environmental context of a project to the decision-making framework. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) are the two approaches commonly used to holistically analyze the environmental performance of the whole building. While GBRS are mostly based on a checklist with many qualitative criteria, LCA compels the practitioner to base the analyses in numerical evidence, which facilitates the comparison between design choices. Some rating systems, such as LEED, BREEAM and Green Star, have been incorporating LCA as one of their criteria. This practice tends to increase in criteria-based tools, because of the market and governmental claims for better awareness of the construction industry ecological impacts. Therefore, the goal of this article is to discuss both whole building life cycle EIA tools, life cycle assessment (LCA) and green building rating system (GBRS), comparing their methodological concepts as well as the effort of combining both approaches. It was noticed that although there are many differences between EIA tools, the combination of both approaches would bring substantial benefits in identifying and mitigating the potential environmental impacts of buildings. Therefore, further research is needed to create a design process framework that unifies GBRS and LCA methodologies, providing a more comprehensive overview of a building’s environmental impacts.