Feng, H; Kassem, M; Greenwood, D and Doukari, O (2023) Whole building life cycle assessment at the design stage: A bim-based framework using environmental product declaration. International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, 41(1), pp. 109-142. ISSN 23984708
Abstract
Purpose: Whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) is a key methodology to reduce the environmental impacts in the building sector. Research studies usually face challenges in presenting comprehensive LCA results due to the complexity of assessments at the building level. There is a dearth of methods for the systematic evaluation and optimization of the WBLCA performance at the design stage. The study aims to develop a design optimization framework based on the proposed WBLCA method to evaluate and improve the environmental performance at the building level. Design/methodology/approach: The WBLCA development method is proposed with detailed processes based on the EN 15978 standard. The environmental product declaration (EPD) methods were adopted to ensure the WBLCA is comprehensive and reliable. Building information modeling (BIM) was used to ensure the building materials and assembly contributions are accurate and provide dynamic material updates for the design optimization framework. Furthermore, the interactive BIM-LCA calculation processes were demonstrated for measuring the environmental impacts of design upgrades. The TOPSIS-based LCA results normalization was selected to conduct the comparisons of various building design upgrades. Findings: The case study conducted for a residential building showed that the material embodied impacts and the operational energy use impacts are the two critical factors that contribute 60–90% of the total environmental impacts and resource uses. Concrete and wood are the main material types accounting for an average of 65% of the material embodied impacts. The air and water heating for the house are the main energy factors, as these account for over 80% of the operational energy use. Based on the original WBLCA results, two scenarios were established to improve building performance through the design optimization framework. Originality/value: The LCA results show that the two upgraded building designs create an average of 5% reduction compared with the original building design and improving the thermal performance of the house with more insulation materials does not always reduce the WBLCA results. The proposed WBLCA method can be used to compare the building-level environmental performances with the similar building types. The proposed framework can be used to support building designers to effectively improve the WBLCA performance.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building design optimization; building information modeling; environmental product declaration; whole building life cycle assessment |
| Index terms: | energy use, insulation, building material, wood, topsis, critical factor, designer, building design, environmental performance, building information modelling, residential building, case study, accounting, design optimization, complexity, methodology, design stage, thermal performance, environmental impact, face, building performance, whole building life cycle |
| Subjects: | sustainability assessment, research methods, traditional and composite building materials, design process, decision-making and optimization, information systems, quality assurance, systems engineering, data collection methods, profession, construction type, risk assessment, environmental impact, psychology, building materials, sustainability and energy, professional practice, energy systems, architectural design, economic analysis |
| Topics: | Construction Technology, Sustainability, Risk Management, Roles and Professions, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Construction Materials, Business Strategy, Organizational Design, Quality Management, Design Practice, Digital Applications |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
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