Life Cycle Assessment'
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has proven useful in determining which construction materials to use based on environmental, economic and human health issues over the life of the material. It can also assist design teams in choosing the correct design or set appropriate regulations fees and charges. Further, LCA illustrates that conventional construction with low initial expenditure has a much higher cost over the life of the building, compared to "green" buildings.
BRE Environmental Impact and Whole Life Cost (Program Information)
Information about BRE's work on Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing for the construction industry.
http://projects.bre.co.uk/ConDiv/tool/default.html
RMIT Greening the Building Life Cycle (Project Information)
This project assessed the status of life cycle assessment (LCA) tools in the building and construction sector, developed strategies to improve the uptake and use of these tools and promoted LCA as a tool to assess the environmental impacts of building materials and building systems. The website includes case studies, reports, decision support tools and environmental performance data sheets.
http://buildlca.rmit.edu.au/
Energy Research Group LCA: The Life Cycle Approach to Buildings (Online Document)
This document provides an overview of life cycle assessment. It then explores life cycle assessment for buildings and life cycle assessment in the design stage.
http://erg.ucd.ie/easee/sa0000.html
Athena Environmental Impact Estimator (Software Information)
The Athena Sustainable Materials Institute developed the Environmental impact Estimator software to calculate the life-cycle environmental effects for a conceptual building design and renovations. It lets users perform life-cycle assessments to compare the environmental implications of industrial, institutional, office, and both multi-unit and single family residential designs.
http://www.athenasmi.ca/
USA National Institute of Standards and Technology Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (Software Information)
Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) measures the environmental performance of building products by using the life-cycle assessment approach specified in ISO 14000 standards. All stages in the life of a product are analyzed: raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use, and recycling and waste management.
http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/ software/bees.html
University Karlsruhe Integrated Life Cycle Analysis (Online Article)
This article examines the basic criteria, methods and assumptions of the integration
of life cycle analysis. The difference between assessment tools and life cycle analysis design tools is also explored.
http://www.ubka.uni-karlsruhe.de/vvv/ 2001/architektur/3/3.pdf
