Abstract
The construction sector plays an important role in moving towards a low-carbon economy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is considered one of the most effective methods of analytically evaluating environmental profiles and an efficient tool for calculating the environmental impacts in building design-oriented methodologies, such as building information modelling (BIM). At early design stages, generic LCA databases are used to conduct the life cycle inventory (LCI), while detailed stages require more detailed data, such as environmental product declarations (EPDs), namely documents that provide accurate results and precise analyses based on LCA. Limitations are recognized when using EPDs in BIM elements at different levels of development (LOD) in the design stages, especially related to the data consistency and system boundaries of the LCA. This paper presents a method of achieving accurate LCA results, that helps with decision-making and provides support in the selection of building products and materials. The method is validated by its application in the structural concrete of an office building located in Germany. The method defines a safety factor adopted for embodied impacts (“cradle-to-gate”), based on EPD results to predict the environmental impact of BIM elements at different LODs. The results obtained show that by integrating the method to conduct the LCA, the range of errors and possible inconsistencies in the LCA results can be reduced.
Highlights
Considering the current environmental impacts, the relevance of reducing the environmental impact of buildings is becoming urgent
Given that environmental product declarations (EPDs) are normally used in building information modelling (BIM)-based Life cycle assessment (LCA) application when the elements of the BIM model are mostly around levels of development (LOD) 300 [37] or higher and the literature shows that EPD is a preferable LCA source [22], in this paper we develop a method that enables us to obtain consistent and accurate LCA results, dealing with the use of EPDs at different design stages in BIM
The study carried out shows how in the current state, the use of EPD in the different LOD of BIM is not directly feasible but requires the information on environmental indicators and the performance of the materials and products to be treated appropriately before being applied
Summary
Considering the current environmental impacts, the relevance of reducing the environmental impact of buildings is becoming urgent. Decreasing the environmental, economic and social impacts is a primary objective of the European Union (EU), which aims to develop a sustainable, competitive, safe and decarbonised energy system [1]. Given that the building sector has a considerable influence on the move towards a more sustainably built environment (and is subsequently largely responsible for facilitating this movement), all the stakeholders involved in the supply chain, including architects, designers, engineers and other players involved in the construction sector, are in a unique position that enables them to set sustainability objectives to reduce the environmental impact from the early stage of a building project [4]. Robust tools and accurate information are required to help them, from the very early design stages to assess and consider the environmental impacts in projects and building constructions
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