Life Cycle Assessment Tool Research Articles

The BIM2LCA Approach: An Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)-Based Interface to Integrate Life Cycle Assessment in Integral Planning

An increasing degree of digitalization in construction planning offers significant potential for building life cycle assessment (LCA) to reduce access barriers, as well as the assessment effort itself. To realize the widespread application of LCA tools and their potential to effectively minimize life cycle impacts, an open approach is required that allows for flexible application of comprehensive LCA studies and early integration in planning processes. The authors present an approach for LCA integration in all phases of digital planning which aims at a DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen) certification based on the open Building Information Modeling (BIM) standard Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). The approach takes into account varying levels of development and resulting data availability during integral planning phases, as well as resulting LCA application contexts. It goes beyond existing strategies and allows one to consider both BIM and LCA software through a workflow based on a single data format. The assessment framework is operationalized through standardized interface development and technical realization following the information delivery manual (IDM) process standardized for IFC interfaces. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema, as a specific implementation for certification, provides the target system for LCA data requirements and is generalized to a planning phase specific IDM base table. The technical realization based on respective model view definitions and distributed data suggests a pathway to the standardization of LCA-IFC integration based on an open approach. The overall approach exemplarily applies to the “LERNZENTRUM” at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) campus. We conclude that an open BIM approach for LCA integration in model-based planning is feasible, but requires several adjustments in IFC, LCA, and planning practice. Adding a lifecycle element to the IFC to connect BIM and LCA provides comprehensive feedback for informed decision making based on environmental impact.

Environmental Potentials of Asphalt Materials Applied to Urban Roads: Case Study of the City of Münster

Life cycle assessment (LCA) tools have been used by governments and city administrators to support the decision-making process toward creating a more sustainable society. Since LCA is strongly influenced by local conditions and may vary according to various factors, several institutions have launched cooperation projects to achieve sustainable development goals. In this study, we assessed the potential environmental enhancements within the production of road materials applied to the road network of Münster, Germany. We also compared traditional pavement structures used in Münster and alternative options containing asphalt mixtures with larger amounts of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP). Although the case study was conducted in Münster, the data collected and the results obtained in this study can be used for comparison purposes in other investigations. In the analysis, we considered all environmental impacts from raw material extraction to the finished product at the asphalt plant. Two environmental indicators were used: non-renewable cumulative energy demand (nr-CED) and global warming potential (GWP). The results show that using RAP increases the consumption of energy but potentially decreases the environmental impacts in terms of the nr-CED and GWP associated with the production of asphalt materials.

BIM and LCA Integration: A Systematic Literature Review

To foster sustainable development, the environmental impacts of the construction sector need to be reduced substantially. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the established methodology for the quantification of environmental impacts, and therefore has been increasingly applied to assess the environmental performance of buildings. By coupling LCAs with digital design tools, e.g., building information modeling (BIM), the identification of environmental hotspots and their mitigation is possible during the design process. The objective of the study is to identify the current integration approaches, and determine the pros and cons of the integration process from different viewpoints, namely, technical, informational, organizational and functional issues. Therefore, a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) was performed. We identified 60 relevant BIM-LCA case studies and analyzed the applied BIM-LCA workflows in detail. A total of 16 of the reviewed studies applied LCA during the early design stage. These studies used a manual or semiautomatic data exchange between the BIM models and LCA tools. In most cases, contemporary BIM-LCA workflows utilized conventional spreadsheets (e.g., Excel sheets in 16 cases). However, the analysis shows that an automated link between LCA and BIM can be achieved when overcoming the technical, organizational and informational issues discussed in the paper. This could enable the streamlining of LCA applications in design practice, and thus support the necessary improvements in the environmental performance of buildings.

A systematic review of BIM usage for life cycle impact assessment

PurposeThis paper searches for integration methods proposed by different authors that assess the life cycle of a building using models of building information modeling (BIM) and it also compares and discusses them.Design/methodology/approachSystematic literature review (SLR) is selected as the main research method of the present paper, aiming to collect and critically analyze multiple research studies. This paper is not only limited to studies where the whole life cycle has been assessed but also includes other papers which only integrated BIM to analyze carbon footprint, embodied carbon dioxide (CO2) or energy consumption.FindingsTaking into account the countries that have published articles about the subject, it is possible to deduce that it has been studied in all of the continents, except Africa. In comparison with other continents, Asia and Europe have developed more studies. Furthermore, 76% of the 34 selected articles were published in journals and only 24% in conferences proceedings, and the number of papers that relates life cycle assessment (LCA) methods using BIM has grown from 2013 to 2015, proving that the current theme is relevant. Several aspects of this literature review show the need to develop automated processes for LCA of buildings during the project's development phase. There is already a tendency to compare LCA results for buildings applied to BIM models, contributing to decision-making related to alternate projects, selection of materials, suppliers and components from an environmental perspective.Originality/valueIn the current global scenario, it is the notorious negative impact on the environment over the years caused by the architecture, engineering and construction industry (AEC). The integration of BIM–LCA can reduce time and improve the application of environmental analysis. Moreover, the proper application of a LCA method to evaluate the environmental impacts of the project can be hindered due to lack of information in the database about the materials or due to failures in the interoperability between BIM software and the LCA tool.

Environmental impact comparison of new micro-milling and thin overlay and conventional milling for sustainable pavement preservation

Micro-milling and thin overlay, a new pavement preservation treatment developed and first implemented by the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in 2007, as an alternative pavement preservation to conventional milling and resurfacing, is used to remove and replace a thin, deteriorated open-graded surface layer (2.2 cm) without disturbing the sound underlying layer. This paper focuses on quantifying micro-milling and thin overlay’s environmental impacts by comparing conventional milling and overlay with micro-milling and thin overlay to complement the previous economic impact study. The environmental impacts are quantified using a pavement construction decision tool entitled Pavement Life-Cycle Assessment Tool for Environmental and Economic Effects (PaLATE). The results show a 60% reduction in all environmental impacts assessed, including energy usage, water consumption, and CO2 emissions largely due to the savings in asphalt needed. Results have demonstrated that this new method is a promising pavement preservation alternative that is environmentally sustainable. This paper provides quantitative comparison information useful for transportation agencies in selecting sustainable pavement preservation alternatives.

Validity and Reliability of Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of New Zealand Dairy Production

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the validity and reliability of life cycle assessment as a research methodology to measure the ecological footprint of New Zealand’s dairy production (by the dairy farming and dairy processing sectors). Environmental Input-Output Analysis was used as a macro-level life cycle assessment tool and applied to the dairy production over a period of six years. Eco-efficiencies were used as performance metrics to assess the sustainability of the dairy production. Over the six year period, New Zealand’s annual milk production increased from 11.4 to 15.1 million tonnes and its annual production of dairy products increased from 1.9 to 2.6 million tonnes. Eco-efficiencies indicate that over this time dairy farming became significantly more efficient in terms of land use (-27%), electricity use (-12%), water use (-21%) and lime use (-16%) and produced significantly less water-based effluent (-20%). At the same time fuel and fertilizer use were slightly less efficient (increasing by 2% and 6% respectively). The dairy processing industry used 21% less water and discharged 21% less effluent water. Fuel used in milk transportation was 14% more efficient. The internal validity of the research was good despite significant structural changes to the dairy processing sector but commercial sensitivity had a negative impact on the results. External validity was affected by different boundaries, different climates and different time frames for published studies but some comparisons were possible. The underlying data was generally accurate, reproducible and representative of the entire sectors with checks for anomalies to ensure good reliability. The choice of Environmental Input-Output Analysis for the life cycle assessment tool and error analysis of all underlying data contributed to both the validity of the research method and the reliability of the data. These, in turn, give good credibility to the research findings.

Comparison of environmental assessment methods when reusing building components: A case study

The building industry is responsible for 35 % of all solid waste in Europe and more than a third of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To address this, applying circular economy principles to the building sector is crucial, for example by reusing building elements from demolition sites rather than extracting and producing new materials. However, most current life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools are not appropriate to evaluate the environmental impact of a building when its components originate from prior buildings and/or will be used in future unknown ones. Still, robust measurement is needed to demonstrate the benefits of reuse towards environmentally sustainable cities. This paper compares existing methodologies to quantify the global warming potential (GWP, expressed in kgCO2e/unit) of recycled/recyclable and reused/reusable products, selected within widely recognised standards, rating schemes, and academic studies, such as the cut-off method, the end-of-life method, the distributed allocation (PAS-2050) method, the Environmental Footprint method, the Degressive method and the SIA 2032 method. Based on these recognised approaches for assessing the GWP of products, new equations are written and applied to buildings with reused/reusable materials for each of the methods. The Kopfbau Halle 118 building (Winterthur, CH, 2021), which is designed with reclaimed elements from local demolition sites, is chosen as a case study. Discrepancies in LCA methods are highlighted by applying them to three different life cycles corresponding to the first, intermediate, or final use of building components. This paper shows that current quantification methods to assess reuse give wide-ranging results and do not address the full spectrum of the reuse practice, that their boundaries are too limited, and that a number of critical features are currently hardly quantifiable, such as embedded use value, versatility, storage and transformation impacts, user-owner separation, dis/re-mountability, or design complexity.

Radiative forcing of forest biomass production and use under different thinning regimes and initial age structures of a Norway spruce forest landscape

We studied how different thinning regimes and initial age structures of a Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) forest landscape affect the radiative forcing of forest biomass production and use. We considered the effects of forest carbon sequestration, substitution of materials and fossil fuels with forest biomass, and timber use efficiency. The initial age structures of our hypothetical forest landscapes in the middle boreal zone in Finland were young, middle-aged, and mature. Forest landscapes were thinned using either the current thinning recommendations (baseline) or maintaining 20% higher or 20% lower stocking over the 80-year study period. We employed forest ecosystem model simulations together with a life cycle assessment tool. The highest carbon sequestration was obtained by maintaining higher stocking in the landscapes. The initially middle-aged and mature age structures resulted in the strongest cooling of the climate in the first three decades of the simulation, but the highest cooling was found in the young age structure. However, radiative forcing was less sensitive to the thinning than to the substitution or timber use efficiency. Our results indicate that modeled climate impacts are affected by both initial age structure and forest management, which should be considered when generalizing the climate change mitigation potential of forests and forestry.

Preliminary sensitivity study on an life cycle assessment (LCA) tool via assessing a hybrid timber building

In order to address concerns related to global warming and increased atmospheric carbon content, the life cycle assessment (LCA) tool has demonstrated usefulness in the building and construction sector. The LCA is used to evaluate environmental impacts concerning all stages of the building process from “cradle” to “grave”. The LCA helps promote sustainable development by considering environmental indicators such as stratospheric ozone depletion, eutrophication, global warming potential, and many more. It is of an interest to know the degree of impact on a given environmental indicator if an input is changed in terms of the type or amount of the materials used. The LCA software Athena IE4B was employed to analyze data of a selected timber building. This study was aimed at evaluating the sensitivity of LCA analysis on a hybrid timber building, which was done via two case studies. Case 1 focused on changes in the volume of wood materials, meanwhile Case 2 focused on simultaneous changes in the volume of materials for wood, steel, and concrete. In Case 1, it was observed increasing wood materials increased environmental indicators, with stratospheric ozone depletion being the most sensitive and global warming potential as the least sensitive. Case 2 discovered that proportionally increasing wood materials in relation to steel and concrete materials decreased environmental indicators, with eutrophication being the most sensitive and stratospheric ozone depletion as the least sensitive. This study helped support the feasibility of using Athena IE4B for LCA analysis in the initial assessment of a building.

Development of a BIM-based Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Assessment tool

Currently, the built environment is one of the sectors that contribute the most to environmental impacts worldwide. As a result, the construction industry is increasingly adopting technologies and methodologies that promote the development of sustainable constructions, i.e. constructions that have low environmental, economic, and social impacts. Focusing on the environmental and economic impact of the construction, this research integrates the building information modelling (BIM) technology with the life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) methodologies for the environmental and economic assessment of buildings. Building on the BIM-LCA/LCC framework and on the information delivery manual (IDM) and model view definition (MVD) for the BIM-LCA/LCC analysis, a BIM-based Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Assessment (BIMEELCA) tool is developed by the authors and detailed in this article. The BIMEELCA tool is used to support the decision-making process during early phases of a project and verify the feasibility of conducting automatic BIM-based LCA and LCC analyses in high-rise projects. A 250 m high-rise apartment, hotel, and office building is used to validate the usefulness of the tool at the early design stage. This case study demonstrates the feasibility to perform an automatic LCA and LCC analysis at this design stage by inserting in the model semantic information from generic databases. In the end, the benefits and limitations of the BIMEELCA tool are discussed. This research is expected to contribute to the promotion of semantically rich BIM models and the development of tailor-made BIM objects’ libraries specific to the needs of companies.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Steel and Concrete Construction Frames: A Case Study of Two Residential Buildings in Iran

Given the fact that during the recent years the majority of buildings in Iran have been constructed either on steel or concrete frames, it is essential to investigate the environmental impacts of materials used in such constructions. For this purpose, two multi-story residential buildings in Tehran with a similar function have been considered in this study. One building was constructed with a steel frame and the other was constructed with a concrete frame. Using the life cycle assessment tool, a complete analysis of all the stages of a building’s life cycle from raw material acquisition to demolition and recycling of wastes was carried out. In this research, the environmental impacts included global warming potential in 100 years, acidification, eutrophication potential, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer effects), resource depletion (water and mineral), climate change, fossil fuel consumption, air acidification and biotoxicity. It could be concluded from the results that the total pollution of the concrete frame in all eleven aforementioned impact factors was almost 219,000 tonnes higher than that of the steel frame. Moreover, based on the results, the concrete frame had poorer performance in all but one impact factor. With respect to global warming potential, the findings indicated there were two types of organic and non-organic gases that had an impact on global warming. Among non-organic emissions, CO2 had the biggest contribution to global warming potential, while among organic emissions, methane was the top contributor. These findings suggest the use of steel frames in the building industry in Iran to prevent further environmental damage; however, in the future, more research studies in this area are needed to completely investigate all aspects of decision on the choice of building frames, including economic and social aspects.

Life cycle assessment modelling for a developing city‘s water system

The research objective to analysis the urban water system (UWS) includes water treatment and distribution, wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal for Raipur city of Chhattisgarh state in India. The city has a dry tropical climate and a warm summer. Developing city is being under pressure due to rapid population expansion, urbanization and industrialization that causes a considerable change in water resources and their services Using SIMA-PRO LCA technology with ReCiPe and IPCC methods, the environmental impact assessment for the urban water system in Raipur was calculate by conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA). LCA tool focuses on water treatment and supply, wastewater, storm water, energy consumption, emission of pollutants and heavy elements to the water bodies and to sewage sludge and others spatial considerations such as population, economic and social assessment, water quality along with stakeholder engagement. LCA is a useful tool for identifying alternative environmental impact solutions and urban water operation scenarios for future strategic planning. In assessment, we found that water losses in distribution network and electricity consumption in water treatment have highest impact on environment while reducing this two by 15% and 2% then it reduces impact about 16%. We studied the existing conditions and different scenarios in this research to enhance the system’s environmental quality and to find solutions to improve sustainability.

Dynamic greenhouse gas life cycle inventory and impact profiles of wood used in Canadian buildings

Wood is increasingly promoted due to its reported low climate change impacts; however, the literature reports provides high variability of climate change impact scores, making comparisons with non-wood materials difficult. The objective of this study is to calculate a database of life cycle inventories (LCI) and dynamic climate change impacts (DCCI) of wood building products, for different use contexts across Canada. Temporally differentiated gate-to-gate LCIs were developed, to which dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA) was applied, yielding a modular database of cradle-to-grave LCIs and DCCIs of wood products. Four wood product case studies were chosen to demonstrate the use of the modular LCI and DCCI database of wood product use in buildings. The results show that most wood building products provide overall net negative climate change impact scores, though for some wood product specifications results show net positive climate change impacts. Results are sensitive to a few factors, including ecosystem carbon cost (ECC), wood carbon content, building lifespan and end-of-life. This research develops a gate-to-gate LCI and DCCI database for each life cycle stage of wood building products, allowing life cycle assessment (LCA) practitioners to calculate DCCI results with respect to a chosen time horizon relevant for decision-making. This modular database would be particularly useful to those practitioners wishing to account for biogenic carbon in wood product life cycle assessment, which is currently quite difficult due to a lack of data. It could also be readily implemented into LCA tools to support building designers in sustainable building material selection.

Decreasing the Environmental Impact in an Egg-Producing Farm through the Application of LCA and Lean Tools

Intensive poultry farming transforms vegetable protein into animal protein through shelf egg and chicken meat production. Mexico is the largest egg consumer and fifth-ranked egg producer worldwide. However, the environmental impact of egg production in this country is scarcely reported. This research aimed to design an eco-efficient approach for egg production in a semi-technified farm based on door-to-door life cycle assessment (LCA) and value stream mapping (VSM) methodologies. The LCA points out that the climate change category is a hotspot in egg production, with emissions of 5.58 kg CO2 eq/kg per egg produced. The implementation of an eco-efficient scheme focused on energy usage could result in a 49.5% reduction of total energy consumption and 56.3% saving in environmental impacts. Likewise, by using an environmental economic evaluation system, it is identified that the eco-efficient scheme allows more sustainable production through the internalization of externalities. From an environmental–economic point of view, externalities—that is, those environmental damages that are not initially considered part of the production cost—were included, meaning they were internalized. The integral framework for LCA and VSM provides a possible path for sustainable productivity.

Environmental Sustainability of Bioenergy Strategies in Western Kenya to Address Household Air Pollution

Over 640 million people in Africa are expected to rely on solid-fuels for cooking by 2040. In Western Kenya, cooking inefficiently persists as a major cause of burden of disease due to household air pollution. Efficient biomass cooking is a local-based renewable energy solution to address this issue. The Life-Cycle Assessment tool Simapro 8.5 is applied for analyzing the environmental impact of four biomass cooking strategies for the Kisumu County, with analysis based on a previous energy modelling study, and literature and background data from the Ecoinvent and Agrifootprint databases applied to the region. A Business-As-Usual scenario (BAU) considers the trends in energy use until 2035. Transition scenarios to Improved Cookstoves (ICS), Pellet-fired Gasifier Stoves (PGS) and Biogas Stoves (BGS) consider the transition to wood-logs, biomass pellets and biogas, respectively. An Integrated (INT) scenario evaluates a mix of the ICS, PGS and BGS. In the BGS, the available biomass waste is sufficient to be upcycled and fulfill cooking demands by 2035. This scenario has the lowest impact on all impact categories analyzed followed by the PGS and INT. Further work should address a detailed socio-economic analysis of the analyzed scenarios.

Cost-effectiveness of small scale biomass supply chain and bioenergy production systems in carbon credit markets: A life cycle perspective

Numerous tools and policies are being developed to promote and incentivize the development and deployment of clean fuel technologies. Carbon emission trading is known as one of the most effective market-based tools to control the generation of carbon emissions. Evaluating the best scenarios to deploy, clean energy solutions must include technology, supply chain, carbon emission and investments analyses. There is still a debate about the feasibility and sustainability of bioenergy scenarios for the different markets. Adapting life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) tools, this study compared the cost-effectiveness of four bio-based energy generation pathways with a diesel-based power generation as the baseline scenario within the context of Canadian remote and rural communities. This analysis provides a ranking of these bioenergy pathways and highlights the potential carbon offsets and credits of the bio-based pathways in comparison with the baseline scenario. Additional tools including multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) are required to provide a complete decision-making platform.

Analysing the contribution of automotive remanufacturing to the circularity of materials

Abstract Remanufacturing can boost resource efficiency, circularity of raw materials and reduce environmental impacts. Material Flow Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment tools are integrated to assess the contribution of remanufacturing in reducing both consumption and impacts of primary resources for passenger cars. Results show that remanufacturing allows keeping within EU about 150,000 tonnes of materials, which is particularly relevant for Critical Raw Materials, such as rare-earth elements. Also, remanufacturing contributes in decreasing environmental impacts of vehicle's key components, as combustion engines (up to 79% of Global Warming Potential reduction). Further work will address data gaps and it will include current/innovative mobility.

Valuing Sustainability of Adaptable Infrastructure Using ROA-SEC: A Hybrid Approach

Infrastructure providing fundamental services for societies may become obsolete under changing environments such as climate or demographics changes, creating the need for adaptability. Designing infrastructure for adaptability may affect life cycle costs as well as environmental and social issues such as resources consumption, waste production or disruption to services provided. Sustainability valuation of adaptable infrastructure is thus required. The Real Options Analysis (ROA) is widely used to evaluate financial viability of investing in adaptable infrastructure. But, the environmental and social aspects have been barely noticed and incorporated. Hence, a valuation method is required to properly address all aspects of sustainability. This paper bridges the gap and advances the literature by presenting a methodology for designed-in adaptability valuation, considering all the sustainability aspects. To this end, a hybrid approach is suggested through integration of Social and Environmental Costing (SEC) with ROA, providing a single measure for sustainability of adaptable infrastructure. In this approach, the outputs of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools are monetized using SEC methods; and then incorporated in the ROA that is built on the probabilistic Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis, suitable for engineering applications. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated on a case example involving seawalls under changing climate effects. For the case example, including sustainability issues in the analysis improved the viability of designing in adaptability. This conclusion cannot be generalized and each situation requires an individual analysis. However, the proposed approach and methodology will be the same in all the situations.

Circular economy enables sustainable consumption and production in multi-level supply chain system

Circular economy system comes from resource regeneration, and must optimize resource and environmental sustainability within the closed-loop system in the supply chains. Prior circular economy studies are neglecting the multi-loop supply chain system activities that broaden the economic benefits and rarely link the activities to economic benefits, especially mostly dealt with optimization of resource use by minimizing waste, emissions, energy leakage, and resource input. This study points out to monitor the multi-level supply chain system effects on circular economy diffusion effects using life cycle assessment tool. A challenge now to the circular economy community is to involve the attributes in multi-level supply chain system and its activities.

Environmental analysis of selective laser melting in the manufacturing of aeronautical turbine blades

The exponential growth of additive manufacturing technologies is not only improving production processes to achieve functional requirements for products, but it could also help to minimize environmental impacts. In order to align a green product lifecycle management vision, companies need to implement emerging technologies and define a set of metrics that measure the benefits of the change. Each product requires a particular and optimized manufacturing process plan, and each production phase must achieve a significant reduction of critical metrics for the whole Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This paper provides a comprehensive and comparative LCA of two manufacturing process plans for the case study of an aircraft engine turbine blade. The first process consists of a combination of Investment Casting and Precision Machining and the second consists in the replacement of Investment casting by Selective Laser Melting as an emergent process for near net shape fabrication. The collected data for the comparison includes Global Warming Potential (GWP), Acidification Potential (AP), Ozone layer Depletion Potential (ODP), Human Toxicity Potential (HTP), and Human Toxicity (HT) with cancer and non-cancer effects. The relative analysis shows that, for the critical indicators, an apparent improvement in CO 2 emissions reduction is achieved as well as in the other hazardous emissions. The results showed that the whole lifecycle of Conventional Manufacturing corresponds to 7.32 tons of CO 2 , while, the emission of the Additive Manufacturing is 7.02 tons of CO 2 . The results analysis can be used for decision-making, and it can help for facing future comparative works to explore cleaner manufacturing technologies. • Process Modelling of Additive and Conventional Aerospace Manufacturing. • Data mining and simulation of manufacturing operations with a LCA tool. • Analysis of manufacturing process plan with Selective Laser Melting. • Sustainability Analysis of Investment Casting compared to Selective Laser Melting.