scholarly journals Environmental Product Declarations as Data Source for the Environmental Assessment of Buildings in the Context of Level(s) and DGNB: How Feasible Is Their Adoption?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6143
Author(s):  
Pamela Del Rosario ◽  
Elisabetta Palumbo ◽  
Marzia Traverso
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Environmental Data ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Building Site ◽  
Life Cycle Stages ◽  
Environmental Product Declarations ◽  
Building Assessment ◽  
Data Source

This study aims to examine the feasibility of using environmental product declarations (EPDs) as a data source for life-cycle assessment (LCA) in two sustainable building assessment schemes–the pilot version of the European framework Level(s) and the German system DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen). An EPD is a standardized and third-party certified label to communicate product-specific environmental data based on LCA. Some green building rating systems consider it a robust LCA data source and encourage its use over generic data. This work evaluates the environmental profile of the envelope of an office building in the context of level(s) and DGNB adopting EPD as a data source. The results indicate that the EPDs did not cover the mandatory scope of the schemes. Furthermore, there was a lack of EPDs appropriate to the geographical context of the case study, leading to the adoption of EPDs of products from places other than the building site and an overestimation of the environmental impacts of transportation. Moreover, the need for EPDs considering suitable and comprehensive scenarios as well as life-cycle stages beyond the product stage is highlighted. This gap, in fact, hinders the performance of a complete LCA within the analyzed building assessment schemes when relying solely on EPDs as a data source. With this paper, we wish to encourage the further development of EPDs related to the integration of more life-cycle modules and more comprehensive scenarios, considering the direction of the latest amendment of the ISO 15804 for EPDs of construction products.

scholarly journals Environmental Product Declarations of Structural Wood: A Review of Impacts and Potential Pitfalls for Practice

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 362
Author(s):  
Freja Nygaard Rasmussen ◽  
Camilla Ernst Andersen ◽  
Alexandra Wittchen ◽  
Rasmus Nøddegaard Hansen ◽  
Harpa Birgisdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Data Uncertainty ◽  
Product Categories ◽  
Laminated Veneer Lumber ◽  
Environmental Product Declarations ◽  
Timber Products

The use of wood and timber products in the construction of buildings is repeatedly pointed towards as a mean for lowering the environmental footprint. With several countries preparing regulation for life cycle assessment of buildings, practitioners from industry will presumably look to the pool of data on wood products found in environmental product declarations (EPDs). However, the EPDs may vary broadly in terms of reporting and results. This study provides a comprehensive review of 81 third-party verified EN 15804 EPDs of cross laminated timber (CLT), glulam, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and timber. The 81 EPDs represent 86 different products and 152 different product scenarios. The EPDs mainly represent European production, but also North America and Australia/New Zealand productions are represented. Reported global warming potential (GWP) from the EPDs vary within each of the investigated product categories, due to density of the products and the end-of-life scenarios applied. Median results per kg of product, excluding the biogenic CO2, are found at 0.26, 0.24, and 0.17 kg CO2e for CLT, glulam, and timber, respectively. Results further showed that the correlation between GWP and other impact categories is limited. Analysis of the inherent data uncertainty showed to add up to ±41% to reported impacts when assessed with an uncertainty method from the literature. However, in some of the average EPDs, even larger uncertainties of up to 90% for GWP are reported. Life cycle assessment practitioners can use the median values from this study as generic data in their assessments of buildings. To make the EPDs easier to use for practitioners, a more detailed coordination between EPD programs and their product category rules is recommended, as well as digitalization of EPD data.

IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF GREEN BUILDING ASSESSMENT INDICATORS FOR MYANMAR

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 143-172
Author(s):  
May Lwin ◽  
Kriengsak Panuwatwanich
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Design ◽  
System Development ◽  
Fuzzy Ahp ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Green Buildings ◽  
Rating System ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Building Assessment ◽  
Hierarchy Process

ABSTRACT To accommodate its increasing population, the Myanmar government has planned to implement smart city projects in Yangon and Mandalay by 2021 and to build 1 million homes by 2030. However, such projected growth does not coincide with Myanmar’s current level of preparedness for sustainable development. Myanmar presently has no standards and specifications for green buildings; it solely relies on the adoption of those from overseas, which may not always be compatible with the unique context of Myanmar. Hence, this study was aimed to identify appropriate green building assessment indicators for Myanmar as an important first step for future rating system development. Nine categories and forty-eight criteria were initially identified by reviewing the widely adopted seven rating systems and investigating existing certified green buildings. The Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) was used to determine and rank the importance levels of the identified assessment indicators. Results showed that “energy efficiency” and “water efficiency” are the most crucial categories with weights of 17.48% and 13.95%, respectively. Compared to other rating system standards, “waste and pollution” was distinctively found as an important category for Myanmar. Energy-efficient architectural design was ranked as the highest priority among all criteria. These findings serve as a building block for the future development of a Myanmar green building rating system by revealing assessment categories and criteria that are most relevant to Myanmar’s built environment.

scholarly journals Integrating Life Cycle Assessment with Green Building and Product Rating Systems: North American Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 118 ◽  
pp. 662-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.O. Collinge ◽  
C.L. Thiel ◽  
N.A. Campion ◽  
S.G. Al-Ghamdi ◽  
C.L. Woloschin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
North American ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
American Perspective ◽  
Product Rating ◽  
North American Perspective

The Construction Specification Institute's Sustainable Reporting Data Format: GreenFormat

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Pat A Hooper
Keyword(s):  
Green Building ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Forest Stewardship Council ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Building Product ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Material Transportation ◽  
Construction Specification ◽  
Design Firms ◽  
Reporting Data

The increased utilization of green building rating systems, federal and state sustainable building programs, and the interest in green building by private commercial and residential builders has generated a wide range of building product manufacturer claims about the sustainable attributes of their products. Evaluating those manufacturer claims, which range from “environmentally friendly,” “low VOC,” “all natural,” to “100% recycled,” is a major challenge to specifiers, professional designers, and others who must make product selections to meet the rating system requirements. While there are independent third party certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council, Scientific Certification System (SCS), and Green Guard, the majority of the rating systems use a descriptor as a requirement such as “rapidly renewable,” for which there is no current certification. Some professional designers want information on material transportation and extraction, or product deconstruction or recycling. Some large design firms have created environmental questionnaires for manufacturers to complete; however, the questionnaires are not standardized. Manufacturers are faced with completing different questionnaires from a variety of major design firms. The Construction Specification Institute (CSI), the publisher of MasterFormat, has created a sustainable reporting data guide named GreenFormat©. The intent of this article is to describe GreenFormat, its data categories, and to provide background on the informational transparency.

A taxonomy for Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA)

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-205
Author(s):  
Barbara X. Rodriguez ◽  
Kathrina Simonen ◽  
Monica Huang ◽  
Catherine De Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Building Life Cycle ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Goal And Scope

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of common parameters in existing tools that provide guidance to carry out Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) and proposes a new taxonomy, a catalogue of parameters, for the definition of the goal and scope (G&S) in WBLCA. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis approach is used to identify, code and analyze parameters in existing WBLCA tools. Finally, a catalogue of parameters is organized into a new taxonomy. Findings In total, 650 distinct parameter names related to the definition of G&S from 16 WBLCAs tools available in North America, Europe and Australia are identified. Building on the analysis of existing taxonomies, a new taxonomy of 54 parameters is proposed in order to describe the G&S of WBLCA. Research limitations/implications The analysis of parameters in WBLCA tools does not include Green Building Rating Systems and is only limited to tools available in English. Practical implications This research is crucial in life cycle assessment (LCA) method harmonization and to serve as a stepping stone to the identification and categorization of parameters that could contribute to WBLCA comparison necessary to meet current global carbon goals. Social implications The proposed taxonomy enables architecture, engineering and construction practitioners to contribute to current WBLCA practice. Originality/value A study of common parameters in existing tools contributes to identifying the type of data that is required to describe buildings and contribute to build a standardized framework for LCA reporting, which would facilitate consistency across future studies and can serve as a checklist for practitioners when conducting the G&S stage of WBLCA.

scholarly journals A BIM-LCA Approach for Estimating the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Large-Scale Public Buildings: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 685 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baoquan Cheng ◽  
Jingwei Li ◽  
Vivian W. Y. Tam ◽  
Ming Yang ◽  
Dong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Operation And Maintenance ◽  
Building Assessment ◽  
Maintenance Stage ◽  
Whole Life Cycle

Exiting green building assessment standards sometimes cannot work well for large-scale public buildings due to insufficient attention to the operation and maintenance stage. This paper combines the theory of life cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modeling (BIM) technology, thereby proposing a green building assessment method by calculating the greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) of buildings from cradle to grave. Life cycle GGE (LCGGE) can be divided into three parts, including the materialization stage, the operation and maintenance stage, and the demolition stage. Two pieces of BIM software (Revit and Designbuilder) are applied in this study. A museum in Guangdong, China, with a hot summer and warm winter is selected for a case study. The results show that BIM can provide a rich source of needed engineering information for LCA. In addition, the operation and maintenance stage plays the most important role in the GGE reduction of a building throughout the whole life cycle. This research contributes to the knowledge body concerning green buildings and sustainable construction. It helps to achieve the reduction of GGE over the whole life cycle of a building. This is pertinent to contractors, homebuyers, and governments who are constantly seeking ways to achieve a low-carbon economy.

scholarly journals Sustainable Green Building

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VII) ◽  
pp. 2301-2306
Author(s):  
Ishani Deshpanday
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Green Buildings ◽  
The Other ◽  
Heat Island ◽  
Rating Systems ◽  
Human Comfort ◽  
Opposite Hand ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Minimum Heat

Green building refers to a structure and employing a method that's environmentally accountable and resource economical throughout a building’s life cycle. Since buildings consume nearly five hundredth of the world's total energy, inexperienced buildings, on the other hand, consume a minimum quantity of energy with the utilization of energy economical materials. Hence, location of inexperienced buildings within the close proximity would produce an inexperienced zone and supply a far healthier setting with minimum heat island result. In India there are 2 primary rating systems for inexperienced buildings: GRIHA (green rating for integrated surround assessment), LEED (leadership in energy and setting design). Green buildings compared to standard buildings appear specifically similar and conjointly within the building use, however disagree within the operational savings and considerations for human comfort and indoor and atmosphere. inexperienced buildings get pleasure from the advantages of saving 40-50% energy by reducing greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere; it conjointly saves concerning 20-30% of water by victimization rain gathering or gray apply techniques. It conjointly reduces VMT (vehicle miles travelled) by selecting the placement near conveyance and conveniences that helps in reduction of petrol consumption. However, on the opposite hand, inexperienced buildings face several barriers just like the high initial investment needed for construction, split incentives.

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