The Adoption of LCA to Assess Sustainable Building Technologies in Office Buildings

The intention of this paper is to support the adoption of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) environmental tool to assess sustainable technologies in office buildings. Existing research on LCA has been applied to assess the impact of building materials, building components and building services from cradle-to-grave; nevertheless there is less focus on the use of sustainable technology in buildings and its contribution to reduce energy demands and potential costs in the long run and this is somewhat surprising as energy is mainly consumed during the use stage of buildings for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and for other appliances. According to current research, the environmental design of office buildings holds a particular interest, as a matter of fact, at the moment, a large proportion of all companies with a certified environmental management system are already operating. Some clear indications of the importance attached to office buildings are already appearing. Several studies in office buildings have also shown that energy consumption for space and water heating is higher than that of lighting and for the use of other electrical (60%). Consequently, this paper supports the adoption of LCA to assess the impact of sustainable and conventional technologies on office buildings in order to make better choice between conventional and sustainable products. Finally, the paper will emphasize that with the use of Life Cycle Assessment we can ensure that we take the right decision from the early stages of the building product processes in order technologies to become environmental friendly, durable and to last for long time.

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