Life cycle assessment and environmental building declaration for the design building at the University of Massachusetts

Abstract Purpose This article aims to estimate the social footprint of a higher education institution (HEI) and its potential contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. The social organisational life cycle assessment (SO-LCA) of the academic activity of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), in northern Spain, has been performed, in order to estimate its social impacts. Method The assessment has been run using openLCA software and supported on the PSILCA-based Soca add-on for the Ecoinvent v3.3 database, covering 53 social indicators for almost 15,000 industrial sectors and goods in 189 countries. Results and discussion The analysis undertaken reflects social impacts and associated risk levels for four stakeholders: Workers, Local Community, Society, and Value Chain Actors. Labour activity in the UPV/EHU is the sub-process with the greatest social impact, followed by processes related to transport, energy, materials, and waste management. Among the socio-economic context which supports the academic activity of the UPV/EHU (indirect impacts), the existence of traces of child labour and illiteracy outside the Basque Country stands out. Further analysis would be required in order to more accurately determine the geographical location of such impacts, and also to better tackle the concept of social debt. Conclusion SO-LCA may have great potential for HEIs, helping them to identify hotspots, reduce their social footprint, and raise awareness among the academic community, which undoubtedly contributes to the knowledge, progress, human values, and sustainability these HEIs stand for. Graphical abstract

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Teaching Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to Graduate Students at The University of Toledo

Sustainability Practice and Education on University Campuses and Beyond ◽

10.2174/9781681084718117010009 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 93-108

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Graduate Students ◽

Teaching Life ◽

The University

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Life Cycle Assessment of Cross-Laminated Timber Transportation from Three Origin Points

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su14010336 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 336

Author(s):

Mahboobeh Hemmati ◽

Tahar Messadi ◽

Hongmei Gu

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Impacts ◽

Real Data ◽

Transportation Systems ◽

Impact Factors ◽

University Of Arkansas ◽

Road Transportation ◽

Cross Laminated Timber ◽

The University

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) used in the U.S. is mainly imported from abroad. In the existing literature, however, there are data on domestic transportation, but little understanding exists about the environmental impacts from the CLT import. Most studies use travel distances to the site based on domestic supply origins. The new Adohi Hall building at the University of Arkansas campus, Fayetteville, AR, presents the opportunity to address the multimodal transportation with overseas origin, and to use real data gathered from transporters and manufacturers. The comparison targets the environmental impacts of CLT from an overseas transportation route (Austria-Fayetteville, AR) to two other local transportation lines. The global warming potential (GWP) impact, from various transportation systems, constitutes the assessment metric. The findings demonstrate that transportation by water results in the least greenhouse gas (GHG) emission compared with freight transportation by rail and road. Transportation by rail is the second most efficient, and by road the least environmentally efficient. On the other hand, the comparison of the life cycle assessment (LCA) tools, SimaPro (Ecoinvent database) and Tally (GaBi database), used in this research, indicate a remarkable difference in GWP characterization impact factors per tonne.km (tkm), primarily due to the different database used by each software.

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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Water re use System of a Green Roof

Advances in Materials Science and Engineering ◽

10.33140/amse/02/01/08 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Urban Areas ◽

New Technologies ◽

Green Roof ◽

Water System ◽

Green Roofs ◽

Reuse Water ◽

The University

In urban contexts climate change and urbanization alter the correct management of outflows. The need to reduce CO2 emissions and increase the green areas presence is linked to forecast targets to facilitate the correct management of urban risks. To achieve these objectives the new technologies are available, such as green roofs, which are useful for reducing the impacts of climate change in urban areas and for the proper management of outflows, indeed, the green roofs can be connected to rainwater reuse systems. The collection and reuse water system can be studied using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. In this paper a sustainability estimate of the green roof and reuse water system is proposed in the Urban Hydrological Experimental Park at the University of Calabria (Italy).

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The Use of A Multidisciplinary Project to Expand the Materials Science Curriculum

MRS Proceedings ◽

10.1557/proc-1046-w03-08 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 1046 ◽

Author(s):

Robert Heard ◽

Deanna Matthews

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Materials Science ◽

Green Building ◽

Wood Products ◽

Environmental Engineering ◽

Science And Engineering ◽

The University ◽

Design And Construction

AbstractA special interdisciplinary project course was offered in the Fall of 2006 within the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Carnegie Mellon University. The course was open to students from across the university, it drew participants from Civil and Environmental Engineering, Engineering and Public Policy, Materials Science and Engineering, Architecture, the School of Design. This multidisciplinary collection of students formed the necessary knowledge base to approach the various tasks of the project. Each student was to rely on their academic experience and talents to contribute to the work, while simultaneously learning from those in other disciplines. The participating material science and engineering were juniors acquainted with fundamental of materials. Some students were taking courses involving steel making process and steel mechanical properties concurrently. Students in civil and mechanical engineering and architecture are familiar with structural design and construction processes. Students in engineering and public policy and environmental engineering have experience with life cycle assessment and environmental impacts. The collaborative group experience introduced students to how disciplines interact in the real world, encouraging them to pursue their own interests in broader areas.The project consisted of three efforts assessing life cycle impact in terms of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and economic costs of equivalent products made from both steel and wood The first effort involved comparison of steel products versus wood products in existing designs. The second, looked at the optimization of steel products to improve design options and the third tried to identifying opportunities to leverage the use of steel materials in green building design and construction, based on certification requirements established by the US Green Building Council and the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.At Carnegie Mellon, the Green Design Initiative researchers have been leaders in life cycle assessment methodology development and assessment, and have a history of merging students and faculty from across the university into research teams. This multidisciplinary project was good example of how common topics can be exploited to provide excellent discovery opportunities for undergraduate engineering programs.

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