SUSTAINABLE PLANNING &

ARCHITECTURE
UNIT III
1. Selection of materials Eco building materials and
construction
2. Biomimicry, Low impact construction, and
recyclable products and embodied energy.
3. Life cycle analysis
4. Energy sources -Renewable and non-renewable
energy
LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS
UNIT III
Life cycle Assessment
• Life-cycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis, eco
balance, and cradle-to-grave analysis) is a technique to assess
environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a
product's life from-cradle-to-grave (i.e., from raw material extraction
through materials processing, manufacture, distribution, use, repair and
maintenance, and disposal or recycling). LCAs can help avoid a narrow
outlook on environmental concerns by:
• Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and
environmental releases;
• Evaluating the potential impacts associated with identified inputs and
releases;
• Interpreting the results to help make a more informed decision.
The goal of LCA is to compare the full range of environmental effects
assignable to products and services in order to improve processes,
support policy and provide a sound basis for informed decisions.
METHODOLOGY
• According to the ISO standards, a
Life Cycle Assessment is carried
out in four distinct phases as
illustrated in the figure shown to
the right.
• The phases are often
interdependent in that the
results of one phase will inform
how other phases are completed.
Goal and scope
• It starts with an explicit statement of the goal and scope of the
study, which sets out the context of the study and explains how and
to whom the results are to be communicated.
• This is a key step and the ISO standards require that the goal and
scope of an LCA be clearly defined and consistent with the
intended application.
• The goal and scope document therefore includes technical details
that guide subsequent work:
▫ the functional unit, which defines what precisely is being
studied and quantifies the service delivered by the product
system, providing a reference to which the inputs and outputs
can be related. Further, the functional unit is an important basis
that enables alternative goods, or services, to be compared
and analyzed.
▫ the system boundaries;
▫ any assumptions and limitations;
▫ the allocation methods used to partition the environmental
load of a process when several products or functions share the
same process; and
▫ the impact categories chosen.
 Life cycle inventory
• Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis involves creating an inventory of
flows from and to nature for a product system.
• Inventory flows include inputs of water, energy, and raw materials,
and releases to air, land, and water.
• To develop the inventory, a flow model of the technical system is
constructed using data on inputs and outputs. The flow model is typically
illustrated with a flow chart that includes the activities that are going to be
assessed in the relevant supply chain and gives a clear picture of the
technical system boundaries. The input and output data needed for the
construction of the model are collected for all activities within the system
boundary, including from the supply chain (referred to as inputs from the
techno-sphere).
• The data must be related to the functional unit defined in the goal and
scope definition. Data can be presented in tables and some interpretations
can be made already at this stage.
Single Stage Flow Diagram
• The following diagram contains inputs and outputs
to be quantified in a single stage or unit operation
▫ see EPA Life-Cycle Design Guidance Manual, EPA Report no. EPA/600/R-
92/226, page 104

Process Materials, Reagents,

Solvents & Catalysts (including
reuse & recycle from another stage)
Energy

Product Material
Inputs (including
reuse & recycle from Reuse/Recycle
another stage) Single Stage or Unit
Operation
Primary Product

Useful Co-product
Fugitive &
Untreated
Waste Waste
Reuse/Recycle
• The results of the inventory is an LCI which provides information about
all inputs and outputs in the form of elementary flow to and from
the environment from all the unit processes involved in the study.
• Inventory flows can number in the hundreds depending on the system
boundary.
• For product LCAs at either the generic (i.e., representative industry
averages) or brand-specific level, that data is typically collected
through survey questionnaires.
• At an industry level, care has to be taken to ensure that
questionnaires are completed by a representative sample of
producers, leaning toward neither the best nor the worst, and fully
representing any regional differences due to energy use, material
sourcing or other factors.
• The questionnaires cover the full range of inputs and outputs,
typically aiming to account for 99% of the mass of a product, 99% of the
energy used in its production and any environmentally sensitive flows,
even if they fall within the 1% level of inputs.
Problems with Inventory Analysis
• The inventory phase usually takes a great deal of time and
effort and mistakes are easily made.

• There exists published data on impacts of different materials

such as plastics, aluminum, steel, paper, etc.
▫ However, the data is often inconsistent and not directly
applicable due to different goals and scope.
▫ It is expected that both the quantity and quality of data will
improve in the future.

• Mass and energy balances are not correct and defy laws of
thermodynamics.

• Results are generalized improperly.

Life cycle impact assessment
• Inventory analysis is followed by impact assessment.
• This phase of LCA is aimed at evaluating the significance of
potential environmental impacts based on the LCI flow
results.
• Classical life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) consists of the
following mandatory elements:
▫ selection of impact categories, category indicators, and
characterization models;
▫ the classification stage, where the inventory parameters are sorted
and assigned to specific impact categories; and
▫ impact measurement, where the categorized LCI flows are
characterized, using one of many possible LCIA methodologies, into
common equivalence units that are then summed to provide an overall
impact category total.
Life cycle impact assessment
• The impact assessment focuses on characterizing the type
and severity of environmental impact more specifically.
Material/impact Environmental effect
depletion of biotic resources
copper
depletion of abiotic
CO2
resources
CFC greenhouse effect Weighing of effect?
SO2
ozone layer depletion
NOx
phosphorous
acidification
volatile organic eutrophication
compounds
(VOCs)
(summer) smog
heavy metals
human toxicity
There are different
PCB
pesticides eco-toxicity
ways to assess and
styrene
odour
weigh the
(example)
environmental effects.
• In many LCAs, characterization concludes the LCIA analysis; this is
also the last compulsory stage according to ISO 14044:2006.
• However, in addition to the above mandatory LCIA steps, other
optional LCIA elements – normalization, grouping, and
weighting – may be conducted depending on the goal and scope of
the LCA study.
• In normalization, the results of the impact categories from the
study are usually compared with the total impacts in the region
of interest, the U.S. for example.
• Grouping consists of sorting and possibly ranking the impact
categories.
• During weighting, the different environmental impacts are
weighted relative to each other so that they can then be summed
to get a single number for the total environmental impact.
• ISO 14044:2006 generally advises against weighting, stating that
“weighting, shall not be used in LCA studies intended to be used in
comparative assertions intended to be disclosed to the public”.
• This advice is often ignored, resulting in comparisons that can
reflect a high degree of subjectivity as a result of weighting
Interpretation
• Life Cycle Interpretation is a systematic technique to identify,
quantify, check, and evaluate information from the results of
the life cycle inventory and/or the life cycle impact assessment.
• The results from the inventory analysis and impact assessment
are summarized during the interpretation phase.
• The outcome of the interpretation phase is a set of conclusions and
recommendations for the study.
• According to ISO 14040:2006, the interpretation should include:
▫ identification of significant issues based on the results of the LCI and
LCIA phases of an LCA;
▫ evaluation of the study considering completeness, sensitivity and
consistency checks; and
▫ conclusions, limitations and recommendations.
• A key purpose of performing life cycle interpretation is to
determine the level of confidence in the final results and
communicate them in a fair, complete, and accurate manner.
• Interpreting the results of an LCA is not as simple as "3 is better
than 2, therefore Alternative A is the best choice"!
• Interpreting the results of an LCA starts with understanding the
accuracy of the results, and ensuring they meet the goal of the
study.
• This is accomplished by identifying the data elements that
contribute significantly to each impact category, evaluating the
sensitivity of these significant data elements, assessing the
completeness and consistency of the study, and drawing conclusions
and recommendations based on a clear understanding of how the
LCA was conducted and the results were developed.
Variants in LCA
• Cradle-to-grave: Cradle-to-grave is the full Life Cycle Assessment
from resource extraction ('cradle') to use phase and disposal phase
('grave').
• Cradle-to-gate: Cradle-to-gate is an assessment of a partial
product life cycle from resource extraction (cradle) to the factory
gate (i.e., before it is transported to the consumer). The use phase
and disposal phase of the product are omitted in this case.
• Cradle-to-cradle or open loop production: Cradle-to-cradle is
a specific kind of cradle-to-grave assessment, where the end-of-life
disposal step for the product is a recycling process. It is a method
used to minimize the environmental impact of products by
employing sustainable production, operation, and disposal practices
and aims to incorporate social responsibility into product
development.
• Gate-to-gate: Gate-to-gate is a partial LCA looking at only one
value-added process in the entire production chain. Gate-to-gate
modules may also later be linked in their appropriate production
chain to form a complete cradle-to-gate evaluation.
• Well-to-wheel: Well-to-wheel is the specific LCA used for
transport fuels and vehicles. The analysis is often broken down into
stages entitled "well-to-station", or "well-to-tank", and "station-to-
wheel" or "tank-to-wheel", or "plug-to-wheel".
• Economic input–output life cycle assessment: Economic
input–output LCA (EIOLCA) involves use of aggregate sector-level
data on how much environmental impact can be attributed to each
sector of the economy and how much each sector purchases from
other sectors.
• Ecologically based LCA: While a conventional LCA uses many of
the same approaches and strategies as an Eco-LCA, the latter
considers a much broader range of ecological impacts.
Life cycle energy analysis
• Life cycle energy analysis (LCEA) is an approach
in which all energy inputs to a product are
accounted for, not only direct energy inputs
during manufacture, but also all energy inputs
needed to produce components, materials and
services needed for the manufacturing process.
An earlier term for the approach was energy
analysis.