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Environmental Impact ofEnvironmental Impact of

Constructions: LCA and LCCConstructions: LCA and LCC

Adrian Ciutina, Ph.D.

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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology for assessing

environmental aspects and the potential associated with a

product by:

compiling an inventory of data input and output of a system; For an

LCA an inventory of all the relevant energy and material inputs as

well as the environmental releases need to be compiled;

assessing potential environmental impacts associated with theinput and output. The (relevant) potential environmental impacts

associated with the inputs and releases need to be evaluated;

interpretation of results in relation to objectives. Finally the results

of the inventory analysis and the impact assessment should beevaluated and followed by an interpretation and regard the

(un-)certainities and conclusions.

WHAT IS AN LCA?

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WHAT IS AN LCA?

LCA studies the potential impact of products from raw materialacquisition through production process, use and disposal

(cradle-to-grave).

General categories of environmental impact to be considered

include the use of resources, human health and

environmental consequences (ISO 14040).

The life cycle in the building industry

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European buildings are responsible for 50% use of theresources, 40% of final energy consumption, and produce 25% of

the waste in a city

Vision 2030 & Strategic Research Agenda - Focus Area Cities and Buildings

More than 50% of all materials extracted from earth are

transformed into construction materials and productsReport of the taskforce on sustainable construction, Lead Market Initiative

The interest of environmental evaluation of buildings is huge.

LCA AND BUILDINGS

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A building is not an easy defined product with a simple one-

dimensional use that can easily be expressed in a single

functional unit. It is rather a complicated system of products,

with complex functions and a multitude of users.Moreover, the different building elements are likely to have

different product lifecycles. This makes the resulting working

life of the building hard to predict.

LCA AND BUILDINGS

Because the LCA represents a holistic approach, the LCA of a

building represents a very complex task. There are a lot of

uncertainties regarding:

its use

end-of-life

maintenance of the building

The actual behaviour of the users with regard to cooling, heating and ventilation can

lead to a very different energy consumption, as compared with the predicted one.

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Market value of a building

LCA AND BUILDINGS