Principles of sustainability and life-cycle analysis

Abstract

There is a growing call for the adoption of sustainable construction practices in the built environment to address the excessively unsustainable consumption of natural resources. Life-cycle analysis (LCA) is often suggested as a useful approach towards appraisal and determination of sustainable construction solutions. However, the role of LCA in promoting sustainable construction seems not to have been systematically discussed and demonstrated as a useful tool, leading, in part, to apathy in its application in the construction industry. This chapter aims to demonstrate, in a systematic manner, the evolution and basic concepts of sustainability in construction. It further demonstrates how LCA could be used to progress the sustainable construction agenda, particularly as applied in sustainable construction material discourse. In so doing, the chapter provides some useful guidelines for the application and mainstreaming of LCA as well as future directions for its use. In the first section, the principles of sustainability are discussed in the context of the construction industry, specifically the selection and use of construction materials. In this section, sustainability is discussed on the general understanding of its being the quest to carry out construction activities without depleting the Earth’s resources and with the least detrimental impacts on society. The role of LCA in the attainment of sustainability is discussed in the second section. First, the concept of LCA is reviewed, followed by methodologies, tools and application in the built environment. Some contemporary challenges inhibiting effective use of LCA are also discussed. The chapter concludes with a summary of contextual challenges as well as future trends in construction LCA application.