Life Cycle Assessment as a Project Decision-Making Tool
A. Quintanaa; I. Guillén-Guillamóna
aCenter for Physics Technologies (CTFAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain
Abstract:
The impact that buildings have over the environment has been getting more and more attention over the last few decades. Climate change is becoming a reality and scientists all around the world are raising the awareness of the disastrous consequences it may have. As a way of mitigating its effects, green building materials are great option, but how do we know if the supposedly green materials we are using are actually better for the environment? Life Cycle Assessment is a methodology that analyzes the entire life cycle of any particular process, material or service to calculate objectively the impacts that it has over the environment. This methodology determines not only the CO2 emissions, but also many other impact categories such as abiotic depletion, marine eutrophication, human health and many more. With this in hand, it is possible to make decisions, regarding the environmental impact of the building, knowing exactly how little or big it would be depending on the materials we use. This case study compares two façade typologies: one made out of concrete panels and the other one based on different layers containing sandwich panels with rockwool and gypsum plasterboard. The results clearly show lower impacts in the case of the sandwich panels.
Keywords: Green building; Life Cycle Assessment; Sustainable construction.