LCA environmental impact categories Global warming potentialĮnvironmental impacts in one category can be caused by many different emissions and therefore characterisation factors are used to combine the impact of different substances. The environmental impact categories generally considered in a construction or building LCA study are shown the most common categories assessed are shown in bold. The impact of the inventory of flows or outputs from a system is assessed and interpreted by linking them to environmental impact categories through a process known as characterisation. At the end of its useful life, demolition, final transportation, waste treatment and disposal.Īny recycling or recovery operations built into the life cycle should lead to a proportionate reduction in the adverse environmental impact and should be accounted for.Operation during the lifetime of the building including maintenance, refurbishment, replacement, etc.
water and energy use, temporary works, shuttering, worker commuting, etc Transportation and distribution between each stage.steelwork fabrication or making precast concrete products Manufacturing and packaging processes, e.g.Refinement and conversion to process materials, e.g.Extraction of the relevant raw materials, e.g.LCA methodology is very flexible in terms of the goal and hence scope of assessment, however a robust LCA of a construction product (or a building) should include the impacts of: if only the climate change impact is included within the scope of the LCA, then the assessment is in fact an embodied carbon assessment. The environmental impact categories chosen, e.g.Allocation is used to ‘allocate’ or share a proportion of the environmental impact from steelmaking to the blast furnace slag blast furnace slag is a valuable by-product of steelmaking from iron ore and therefore should carry a proportion of the environmental impact from steelmaking to the product in which it is used. The allocation methods used to partition the environmental load of a process when several products or functions share the same process, e.g.Any specific assumptions and limitations of the study.what is included/excluded from the scope of the assessment over a defined timescale, typically 60 years in the case of building assessments a tonne of structural steel, 1m 2 of external wall or a whole building, etc.
If the LCA study is to make comparative results public then a critical review of the study to ISO 14044 must be provided.Īn important first step in any LCA is to clearly define the goal and scope of the study. Interpreting the results to help make informed decisions.the global warming impact from CO 2 and other greenhouse gas emissions Evaluating the potential impacts associated with these inputs and releases, e.g.Releases can be solid wastes or emissions to air or water Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases (outputs) associated with a defined system.LCA involves the collection and evaluation of quantitative data on the inputs and outputs of material, energy and waste flows associated with a product over its entire life cycle so that its whole-life environmental impacts can be determined.Īn LCA essentially comprises three steps: There are now over 6,000 verified EPD to EN 15804 for construction products registered globally. EPD are increasingly being used by construction product manufacturers in the UK and the EU to provide robust, quantified environmental data for their products. LCA is the methodology that is used to develop Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) which are a standardised set of environmental information based on a common set of rules called Product Category Rules (PCRs). Despite being conceptually quite straightforward, LCA can be very complex with many important, often material-specific, assumptions than can significantly influence the outcome. 9 End of life LCA and embodied carbon data for construction materialsįirst developed in the 1960s, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the most widely used and highly regarded tool for quantifying the environmental impacts of products and services.7.4 Manufacturers and trade associations.7.2 Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE).7.1 The Building Research Establishment (BRE).7 Construction LCA and embodied carbon data sources.6.1 Accounting for the recycling of steel.2.1 Embodied carbon codes and standards.1.3 The Construction Products Regulation (CPR).