AHP based life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework: a case study of six storey wood frame and concrete frame buildings in Vancouver

Construction and building industry is in dire need for developing sustainability assessment frameworks that can evaluate and integrate related environmental and socioeconomic impacts. This paper discusses an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based sustainability evaluation framework for mid-rise residential buildings based on a broad range of environmental and socioeconomic criteria. A cradle to grave life cycle assessment technique was applied to identify, classify, and assess triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability performance indicators of buildings. Then, the AHP was applied to aggregate the impacts into a unified sustainability index. The framework is demonstrated through a case study to investigate two six storey structural systems (i.e. concrete and wood) in Vancouver, Canada. The results of this paper show that the environmental performance of a building in Canada, even in regions with milder weather such as Vancouver, is highly dependent on service life energy, rather than structural materials.

[1]  Alessandra Zamagni,et al.  Workshop on life cycle sustainability assessment: the state of the art and research needs—November 26, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark , 2013, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[2]  Rehan Sadiq,et al.  Drilling waste discharges in the marine environment : a risk based decision methodology , 2001 .

[3]  A Huvstig,et al.  WHOLE LIFE COSTING , 1999 .

[4]  Rusdy Hartungi,et al.  Track: Sustainable Development and Architecture, Housing and Construction , 2010 .

[5]  Bruce R. Ellingwood,et al.  Reliability of woodframe residential construction subjected to earthquakes , 2007 .

[6]  R. Vachnadze,et al.  Some applications of the analytic hierarchy process , 1987 .

[7]  R. Sadiq,et al.  Evaluation of Generic Types of Drilling Fluid Using a Risk-Based Analytic Hierarchy Process , 2003, Environmental management.

[8]  John T Harvey,et al.  Life Cycle Assessment of Pavements , 2014 .

[9]  Ghassan Aouad,et al.  Whole-life costing in construction: A state of the art review , 2003 .

[10]  Manfred Lenzen,et al.  Embodied energy in buildings : wood versus concrete - reply to Börjesson and Gustavsson , 2002 .

[11]  James G. Speight,et al.  A review of: Odum, Howard T. “Environmental Accounting: Energy and Environmental Decision Making”. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996. $79.95. , 1996 .

[12]  Ernest H. Forman,et al.  Multi Criteria Decision Making and the Analytic Hierarchy Process , 1990 .

[13]  Fardin Barekat,et al.  An Investigation into the Use of Wood vs. Steel and Concrete in Construction of the New SUB , 2010 .

[14]  S. Al-Athel,et al.  Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: "Our Common Future" , 1987 .

[15]  David Malin Roodman,et al.  Our Buildings, Ourselves. , 1994 .

[16]  J. Leadbitter.  Polymers, the Environment And Sustainable Development , 2004 .

[17]  Andreas Ciroth,et al.  The guidelines for social life cycle assessment of products: just in time! , 2010 .

[18]  T. L. Saaty,et al.  Decision making with dependence and feedback , 2001 .

[19]  Thomas L. Saaty,et al.  Applications of the analytic hierarchy process to long range planning processes , 1982 .

[20]  Luis G. Vargas,et al.  How to Make A Decision , 2012 .

[21]  Han Zhang,et al.  Life-Cycle Optimization of Pavement Overlay Systems , 2010 .

[22]  R. Cole,et al.  Re-contextualizing the notion of comfort , 2008 .

[23]  P. Börjesson,et al.  Greenhouse gas balances in building construction : wood versus concrete from life-cycle and forest land-use perspectives , 2000 .

[24]  L. Gustavsson,et al.  Variability in energy and carbon dioxide balances of wood and concrete building materials , 2006 .

[25]  Abbie B. Liel,et al.  Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Frame Buildings in Southern California , 2011 .

[26]  Curt B. Haselton,et al.  Benchmarking Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Frame Buildings , 2005 .

[27]  Peter Baccini,et al.  A city's metabolism: Towards the sustainable development of urban systems , 1997 .

[28]  Linda S. Heath,et al.  The greenhouse gas and energy impacts of using wood instead of alternatives in residential construction in the United States , 2008 .

[29]  Rehan Sadiq,et al.  Sustainability assessment of flooring systems in the city of Tehran: An AHP-based life cycle analysis , 2011 .

[30]  Fatemeh Zahedi,et al.  The Analytic Hierarchy Process—A Survey of the Method and its Applications , 1986 .

[31]  B. Rugani,et al.  The Added Value of Integrating Emergy into LCA , 2014 .

[32]  Qingyuan Wang,et al.  Use of wastes derived from earthquakes for the production of concrete masonry partition wall blocks. , 2011, Waste management.

[33]  Roger Flanagan.  Life Cycle Costing Theory and Practice , 1989 .

[34]  David Pennington,et al.  Recent developments in Life Cycle Assessment. , 2009, Journal of environmental management.

[35]  Patrick T. Harker,et al.  The Analytic Hierarchy Process , 1989 .

[36]  Marshall Lew,et al.  AN ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURE FOR SEISMIC ANALYSIS AND DESIGN OF TALL BUILDINGS LOCATED IN THE LOS ANGELES REGION 2008 Edition , 2008 .

[37]  Charles J. Kibert,et al.  Construction ecology : nature as the basis for green buildings , 2002 .

[38]  Hans-Jürgen Dr. Klüppel,et al.  The Revision of ISO Standards 14040-3 - ISO 14040: Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework - ISO 14044: Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines , 2005 .

[39]  C. K. Dodd,et al.  Habitat destruction and alteration. Historical trends and future prospects for amphibians , 2003 .

[40]  Marina Franke,et al.  Solid waste generation , 1999 .

[41]  M. Goedkoop,et al.  The Eco-indicator 99, A damage oriented method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment , 1999 .

[42]  Kaldjian.  Characterization of municipal solid waste in the United States: 1990 update , 1990 .

[43]  Gjalt Huppes,et al.  Life cycle assessment and sustainability analysis of products, materials and technologies. Toward a scientific framework for sustainability life cycle analysis , 2010 .

[44]  Luis Pérez-Lombard,et al.  A review on buildings energy consumption information , 2008 .

[45]  Eric Masanet,et al.  Life-cycle assessment of pavements. Part I: Critical review , 2011 .

[46]  Thomas L. Saaty,et al.  Multicriteria Decision Making: The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Planning, Priority Setting, Resource Allocation , 1990 .

[47]  Marzia Traverso,et al.  Towards a life cycle sustainability assessment: making informed choices on products , 2011 .

[48]  Sathyanarayanan Rajendran,et al.  Solid waste generation in asphalt and reinforced concrete roadway life cycles , 2007 .

[49]  Rehan Sadiq,et al.  Risk-based environmental decision-making using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) , 2006 .

[50]  Thomas D. O'Rourke,et al.  The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Fire—Enduring Lessons for Fire Protection and Water Supply , 2006 .