LCA vs LCCA
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has a lot of overlap and can be confused with Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA) due to the similar acronym. LCCA focuses on the economic costs (install, operation, etc) of the architectural system or product.
Introduction
Life Cycle Assessment, or simply just known as LCA, is a method of evaluating the environmental impact of using a particular material or product in a building. It evaluates its effect on things such as global warming, by taking into account the energy needed, including initial raw material extraction to final recycling, reuse, and disposal.
- LCAs : Part of the Materials and Resources category of the LEED rating system. (see below)
- Also sometimes referred to as ‘whole building life-cycle assessment’
Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
A whole building LCA takes a building that is modeled or assumed to be a base case, and compares it against the design case. The models typically do not include interior finish work, site work, and only include structure and enclosure.
- Base Case: Reflects construction practices of a typical building for that size, program location, etc.
- Design Case: Reflects the building’s actual design/construction.
Leed Credit
The LEED credit is constantly changing and updating, but generally you must perform a whole building LCA and are evaluated based on the design outperforming in various areas against the base case. Refer to the link above for the USGBC page and latest rules/requirements.
- Version 4 Example: Your design demonstrates a minimum of 5% reduction in three of six categories (below), with one of those categories being global warming potential. Note that you cannot perform worse in any of the categories by over 5% which would offset the improvements.
Categories
- Global Warming Potential (greenhouse gases)
- Stratospheric Ozone Layer Depletion
- Acidification of land and water sources
- Generation of waste materials that can lower the pH of surrounding waterways and soils
- Eutrophication
- Formation of excessive nutrients in a body of water that promotes algae growth. Algae growth when out of balance can block the penetration of sunlight into the water, resulting in less oxygen production and loss of aquatic life.
- Formation of Tropospheric Ozone
- This is formation of ground-level ozone.
- Depletion of Non-Renewable Energy Resources
- Essentially depletion of fossil fuels in TRACI. TRACI, or Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and Other Environmental Impacts, is a tool developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). It’s used to characterize environmental stressors that could lead to negative environmental impacts
Four Parts to an LCA
- Define The Goals And Scope Of The Study: Limiting the data set allows comparison and results to be obtained.
- Perform An Inventory Analysis: Requires the inputs and outputs of the product in terms of energy and materials from raw material to final use.
- This includes the energy needed to obtain the raw materials, the energy to process and manufacture the raw materials, the energy for transport, the ancillary materials, the pollution or waste created during the process, disposal processes, and the recyclability of the material. Often this is the most difficult piece of the puzzle as it is extremely hard finding where things came from.
- Impact Assessment: Examines the processes identified in the inventory analysis and evaluates how they will affect the environment.
- I.e. Resource depletion, generation of pollution, effects on health and social welfare, etc.
- Perform Improvement Analysis And Report The Results: Improvement analysis suggests ways to reduce the environmental impact of the raw material, energy, and the processes to create the material. Essentially, ways that the product could be improved given the findings in 1,2,3.
Stages In a Product Life Cycle
- Raw Material Acquisition:
- Acquisition and the energy consumption associated with these processes. (mining, drilling, etc)
- Processing of the raw material (refining, smelting, processing, etc)
- Transportation of the raw materials (shipping via trains, trucks, etc)
- Manufacturing
- Conversion of processed raw materials into useful products
- Manufacturing or fabrication of materials necessary to generate the final product
- Packaging of the product
- Transportation of the product to the job site or distribution channel
- Use and Maintenance
- Installation of construction of the product into the building
- Long-Term use of the product throughout its life or the life of the building
- Maintenance and repair of the product throughout its life.
- Disposal
- Demolition or removal of the product from the building after its usefulness
- Conversion of the waste into other useful products (recycling)
- Waste disposal of the product (trash)
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