Life-cycle assessment of residential buildings in three different European locations, basic tool

The paper deals with the development of a tool used for the life cycle assessment of residential buildings located in three different European towns: Brussels (Belgium), Coimbra (Portugal) and Lulea (Sweden). The basic tool focuses on the structure and the materials of the buildings and permits the evaluation of the Embodied energy, Embodied carbon and yearly energy consumption. For that purpose, a different set of original data is taken into account for each location, in which the monthly temperatures, energy mix, heating and cooling systems are defined. The energy consumption, being for heating space or water, for cooling or for lighting is transformed into CO2 emissions to deduce the Operational carbon as well. The influence of the energy mix can therefore be assessed in the basic tool. As a matter of fact, the heating and cooling systems habitually used in the three countries are also of great importance. The District Heating system, is, for instance, incorporated in the basic tool. The presence of solar water heater or photovoltaic panels is also strongly influencing the operational carbon. After a short literature review on building LCA and the description of the basic tool, the software Pleiades + Comfie combined with Equer is used to achieve the complete LCA for one building using two different load bearing frames. The results of the calculations for Brussels climate are verified against these software results. The dependence of the results to parameters such as climate, energy mix and habits is then discussed in the companion paper.

[1]  Hugo Hens,et al.  Life cycle inventory of buildings: A calculation method , 2010 .

[2]  Pimenta de Andrade,et al.  Structural Assessment and Optimization of the Modular System of a Student Residential Building in Luleå and Coimbra : Affordable Houses Project , 2010 .

[3]  Thomas Lützkendorf,et al.  Using an integrated performance approach in building assessment tools , 2006 .

[4]  Bruno Peuportier,et al.  Using life cycle assessment as decision support in the design of settlements , 2004 .

[5]  Mathias Borg,et al.  Generic LCA-methodology applicable for buildings, constructions and operation services: today practice and development needs , 2003 .

[6]  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 .

[7]  Oscar Ortiz,et al.  Sustainability in the construction industry: A review of recent developments based on LCA , 2009 .

[8]  U. K. Rout,et al.  Energy and emissions forecast of China over a long-time horizon , 2011 .

[9]  Paul J. Burke.  Income, resources, and electricity mix , 2010 .

[10]  S Marinković,et al.  Comparative environmental assessment of natural and recycled aggregate concrete. , 2010, Waste management.

[11]  Ignacio Zabalza Bribián,et al.  Life cycle assessment in buildings: State-of-the-art and simplified LCA methodology as a complement for building certification , 2009 .

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

[13]  Sigrid Reiter,et al.  A method to evaluate the energy consumption of suburban neighborhoods , 2011 .

[14]  G. A. Marrero.  Greenhouse gases emissions, growth and the energy mix in Europe: a dynamic panel data approach , 2009 .

[15]  Bruno Peuportier.  Bancs d'essais de logiciels de simulation thermique. , 2005 .

[16]  Anne Grete Hestnes,et al.  Energy use in the life cycle of conventional and low-energy buildings: A review article , 2007 .

[17]  Carles M. Gasol,et al.  How important are current energy mix choices on future sustainability? Case study: Belgium and Spain—projections towards 2020-2030 , 2010 .

[18]  Giovanni Andrea Blengini,et al.  The changing role of life cycle phases, subsystems and materials in the LCA of low energy buildings , 2010 .

[19]  David Pearlmutter,et al.  A life-cycle energy analysis of building materials in the Negev desert , 2008 .

[20]  L. Gustavsson,et al.  Life cycle primary energy analysis of residential buildings , 2010 .

[21]  Sarel Lavy,et al.  Identification of parameters for embodied energy measurement: A literature review , 2010 .

[22]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Analysing the life-cycle energy of an Australian residential building and its householders , 2000 .

[23]  O. Ortíz-Rodriguez,et al.  Life cycle assessment of two dwellings: one in Spain, a developed country, and one in Colombia, a country under development. , 2010, The Science of the total environment.

[24]  Lieve Helsen,et al.  Influence of massive heat-pump introduction on the electricity-generation mix and the GHG effect: Comparison between Belgium, France, Germany and The Netherlands , 2008 .

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

[26]  Catarina Thormark,et al.  A low energy building in a life cycle - its embodied energy, energy need for operation and recycling potential , 2002 .

[27]  Bruno Peuportier,et al.  Thermal and environmental assessment of a passive building equipped with an earth-to-air heat exchanger in France , 2008 .

[28]  R. Heijungs,et al.  Environmental life cycle assessment of products , 1992 .

[29]  P. Hennicke,et al.  SCENARIOS FOR A ROBUST POLICY MIX: THE FINAL REPORT OF THE GERMAN STUDY COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SUPPLY , 2004 .

[30]  Bruno Peuportier,et al.  Life cycle assessment applied to the comparative evaluation of single family houses in the French context , 2001 .

[31]  Inge Blom,et al.  Environmental impact of building-related and user-related energy consumption in dwellings , 2011 .

[32]  Gloria P. Gerilla,et al.  An environmental assessment of wood and steel reinforced concrete housing construction , 2007 .

[33]  Ignacio Zabalza,et al.  Life cycle assessment in buildings: The ENSLIC simplified method and guidelines , 2011 .

[34]  T. Malmqvist,et al.  Basic building life cycle calculations to decrease contribution to climate change Case study on an , 2011 .

[35]  G. Treloar.  Extracting Embodied Energy Paths from Input–Output Tables: Towards an Input–Output-based Hybrid Energy Analysis Method , 1997 .

[36]  Barbara Rossi.  Sustainable steel constructions – Life-cycle inventory, methods and applications , 2010 .

[37]  Eric Durand,et al.  Evaluation of the environmental quality of buildings towards a more environmentally conscious design , 1996 .

[38]  Zhang Xu,et al.  Inventory analysis of LCA on steel- and concrete-construction office buildings , 2008 .

[39]  Hans-Jürgen Dr. Klüppel,et al.  ISO 14041: Environmental management — life cycle assessment — goal and scope definition — inventory analysis , 1998 .

[40]  Carl-Erik Grip,et al.  Possibility to combine exergy with other process integration methods for a steelmaking case , 2010 .

[41]  G. Treloar,et al.  Life-cycle energy analysis of buildings: a case study , 2000 .

[42]  Giovanni Andrea Blengini,et al.  Life cycle of buildings, demolition and recycling potential: A case study in Turin, Italy , 2009 .

[43]  Svetlana Pushkar,et al.  A methodology for design of environmentally optimal buildings by variable grouping , 2005 .

[44]  Gregory A. Keoleian,et al.  Life cycle energy and environmental performance of a new university building: modeling challenges and design implications , 2003 .