1. LCA-BASED METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR COMPARATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF NEW BUILDINGS
Costantino MENNA, Maria Chiara CARUSO, Domenico ASPRONE, Andrea PROTA
Department of Structures for Engineering and Architecture – University of Naples Federico II

2. OUTLINE MOTIVATION PROPOSED METHODOLOGY APPLICATION - CASE STUDY
Context and challenges
PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
Comparative framework based on LCA
APPLICATION - CASE STUDY
Multifamily residential house – structural materials
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
EPD2008
CONCLUSION

3. Decision Making Process
MOTIVATION: Context
Sustainability in the construction industry
Common goals  looking at the design process from the perspective of engineers and professionals
INPUT
Methods
Decision Making Process
Sustainability
New Building Design
Constraints
Minumun requirements
Compliance with regulations (e.g. structural code)
try to pursue the goals by looking at the results from the perspective of engineers and prationier
Standards, regulations, methods and tools are increasingly meeting the needs for sustainability in construction

4. Italian Regulation for Public Procurement DL 50/2016
MOTIVATION: Context
REGULATION (EU) No 305/2011 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 9 March 2011 laying down harmonized conditions for the marketing of construction products and repealing
(25) “Where applicable, the declaration of performance should be accompanied by information on the content of hazardous substances in the construction product in order to improve the possibilities for sustainable construction and to facilitate the development of environment-friendly products. […]”
(56) “For the assessment of the sustainable use of resources and of the impact of construction works on the environment Environmental Product Declarations should be used when available.”
Italian Regulation for Public Procurement DL 50/2016
Evaluation criteria
Environmental and social aspects
Environmental resources conservation
Effects on environment
Assessment based on Life Cycle

5. MOTIVATION: Challenges
Decision Making Process  materials, components, systems…etc.
Design choices/options  based on a LCA approach
Building Life Cycle
Materials
Building
Two alternative approaches:
LCA for Building Materials and Component Combinations  Structural materials
LCA of the Whole Process of the Construction  New (and Existing) buildings
New Building
Existing Building
How to evaluate the effects of different design choices at the scale of the building?

6. MOTIVATION: Challenges
Designing and implementing different building configurations
(materials, components etc.)
single object
Verifying that each building configuration satisfies some building performance requirements
Performing an LCA of the different building configurations within a standardized LCA framework
Evaluate the effects of a design choice at the scale of the building still guaranteeing a set of performances (e.g. amount of materials)
Citare alcuni studi comparativi dove non c’è il framework
In order to achieve environmental sustainability goals, a comparison between the environmental performance of different design options can be properly carried out by:
When an entire building is treated as a single object to be analyzed, the environmental performance assessment by means of LCA would require a rigorous methodological framework

7. METHODS: Proposed Framework
LCA
“Extended” system boundary  performances

8. CASE STUDY: Proposed Framework
Residential Building
3 structural materials
Increasing the scale of the analysis
Specificare che è solo la parte strutturale
Scale of the building
Comparative
analysis

9. CASE STUDY: Structural Performance
Load type
Value
Units
Snow
480
N/m2
Windward
815
Downwind
- 490
Earthquake
0.118
ag/g, PGA
Internal live loads
2000
Roofing live loads
500
Staircase and balcony live loads
4000
Structural Performance  displacement – ductility class
RC Frame
Steel Frame
Wooden Frame
AMOUNT of materials  beams, columns, joints, slabs, stairs, foundations, balconies

10. CASE STUDY: Life Cycle Assessment
LCA
Goal&Scope Definition
Functional Unit
System Boundary
Life-Cycle Inventory
Life-Cycle Impact Assessment
Interpretation of results
ISO 14040:2006 – ISO21930:2007 …
LCA Software: SimaPro 7.3
LCI Database: EcoInvent 3.0
LCIA Methodology: EPD2008

11. Environmental outcomes: EPD IMPACT INDICATORS
CASE STUDY: Results
Environmental outcomes: EPD IMPACT INDICATORS
transportation, construction, and maintenance amount to less than 10%.
The EoL phase’s impacts equate to 20-50% (steel)
of the impact due to extraction and the production of materials
* Use phase includes only the maintenance operations

12. Environmental outcomes: EPD IMPACT INDICATORS
CASE STUDY: Results
Environmental outcomes: EPD IMPACT INDICATORS
There is no apparent straightforward indication for the best environmental performance
among the proposed structural options considering all the damage categorie
RC Structure ha a lower impact for 5 of 6 impact categories

13. Limits and further developments
CONCLUSION
Comparative methodological approach  effectively perform the environmental sustainability assessment of building structures (scale effects)
Innovative features  managing external constraints related to minimum design performances (design stage)
RC structure provides  the highest impacts only for one category upon six
Consider mixed configurations to minimize the environmental impacts
Integrate the approach with non structural components
Utilize effective tools to support the method (e.g. BIM) in order to facilitate the implementation in the decision making process
Limits and further developments

14. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Costantino MENNA