Najjar, M K; Figueiredo, K; Evangelista, A C J; Hammad, A W A; Tam, V W Y and Haddad, A (2022) Life cycle assessment methodology integrated with BIM as a decision-making tool at early-stages of building design. International Journal of Construction Management, 22(4), pp. 541-555. ISSN 1562-3599
Abstract
Climate change is one of the major concerns worldwide and greenhouse gas emissions plays an important role in increasing the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. Furthermore, the construction industry is one of that presents a considerable environmental impact as it consumes large amounts of natural resources and energy. Aiming to investigate the environmental impacts, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology evaluates products and services showing the similarities and differences in evaluating midpoint and endpoint impact categories. This study reviews LCA from a building perspective and empowers the decision-making process and sustainable building design in the construction sector. The novelty is to estimate the operating energy performance and evaluate the endpoint impacts of building materials at an early designing stage, considering two methods of construction; concrete construction and steel construction. This work follows the methodological framework of LCA based on ISO 14040 and 14044 guidelines within the available database, using Autodesk Green Building Studio application in Autodesk Revit and Open LCA software based on two assessment methods: IMPACT 2002+ and ILCD 2011. A case study of a multi-story office building is applied to achieve the objectives of this work. The building is structured at four levels of subsystems and associated construction materials: basic structure, walls, finishing, and windows. Results indicate that using steel construction instead of concrete construction is more environmentally friendly in such types of buildings. It encourages the application of innovative techniques in the production process to protect natural resources, reduce energy consumption, and protecting the built environment.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building energy; construction materials; damage impact categories; environmental impacts; life cycle assessment; sustainable building design |
| Index terms: | construction material, energy consumption, built environment, building material, energy performance, estimate, construction industry, building design, environmentally friendly, case study, decision-making process, office building, natural resource, database, window, concrete construction, greenhouse gas emission, sustainable building design, decision-making, methodology, environmental impact, green building, studio, steel construction, construction sector, climate change, ISO, life cycle assessment, production process |
| Subjects: | research methods, structural engineering, manufacturing engineering, architectural elements, design practice, sustainable design, decision analysis, building construction, data management, environmental health, industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, construction type, data collection methods, climate science, environmental impact, standards development, environmental resource management, building materials, architectural design, financial and cost management, energy systems |
| Topics: | Quality Management, Design Practice, Digital Applications, Urban Studies, Construction Technology, Sustainability, Risk Management, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Cost Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here