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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
LCA in the building sector: methodological problems and
practical solutions based on the Dutch experience
SBO7 - 8 June 2007, Turin - Italy
Leo Breedveld – 2B
SB07 Friday 8th June: LCA Buildings
www.to-be.it
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
LCA & buildings: methodological issues
LCA is complex tool buildings are complex products
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
LCA & buildings: methodological issues
1. Life-time of a building is long and unknown
2. Buildings are site specific and many of the impacts are local
3. Buildings consist of many components: data problem
4. Manufacturing processes are site-specific (construction phase)
5. Behaviour of the users is difficult to predict (use phase)
6. End-of-life is country specific (demolition phase)
7. Multi-functionality of buildings >> functional unit
8. Conflict between environmental impacts and indoor living
environment (heating, ventilation, lighting, etc.)
9. How to assess urban infrastructure (roads, pipes, wires, green
space, treatment facilities). Building design >> infrastructure
10. How to assess building adaptability?
Functional unit?
System boundaries?
Local impacts?
Data availability?
Allocation?
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Environmental relevance:� Environmental priority in NL together with
agriculture and mobility
Support of the Ministry of the Environment:� Dubo: Dutch programme to support ecodesign in
the building sector
� Support of assessment tools in the building sector
(e.g. Eco-Quantum, Greencalc)
Eco-confusion – nineties:� Conflicting views and information on
environmental issues (eco-preferability of
products, ecolabel type 1)
Dutch experiences in the building sector
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Potential and limits of LCA
LCA is primarily an
ecodesign tool and
to a lesser extend
a tool to select the
“best” alternative.
LCA does not provide
absolute answers, it
is a tool to support
eco-decisions in a
specific context
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
MRPI: Dutch EPD system
MRPI: certified environmental information of building
materials (EPDs):� Initiative of the building sector
� Ecolabel type 3
� Based on LCA
Driving force of MRPI:� Conflicting information is bad for the sector
� Participation of the sector (> 100 materials)
Main stakeholders:� Association of the building sector (NVTB)
� Ministry of the Environment, certification bodies
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
LCA databases for building materials
� MRPI >> NEN 8006:2004 (>> CEN TC 350)
� VLCA
� Ecoinvent v1.3 – v2
� IVAM LCA database
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
CEN/TC 350
The programme of work within CEN/TC 350 will provide with a standardised voluntary approach for the delivery of environmental information on construction products, and to assess the environmental performance of buildings, and more generally the integrated performance of buildings in a framework document. The objective is to cover all kinds of building products and all kinds of buildings, new and existing buildings, and possibly other construction works, if appropriate.
The programme work will ensure taking into account the existing standards, particularly the ISO existing standards from ISO/TC 59/SC 17, ISO/TC 59/SC 14 and ISO TC 207 through:
� the development of a set of standards for environmental product declarations (EPD) for building products, including the implementation of the ISO/TC 59/SC 17 standard ISO 21930 as EN ISO, and the development of an European Product Category Rule (PCR),
� the development of a standard on the environmental performance of buildings, and
� the development of a technical report describing processes and scenarios related to the building life cycle in order to complement the whole concept.
The work is organised in the following way:
� AHG Framework directly managed by the TC in charge of the framework document
� WG1 Environmental Performance of buildings in charge of projects related to the assessment of the environmental performance of buildings and the use of EPD
� WG2 Building life cycle description in charge of the project related to description of building life cycle
� WG3 Products level in charge of projects related to: European PCR; Communication format; TR on generic data
The set of standards is planned to be available by 2008-2009.
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
http://www.oekosiedlungen.de/_materialien/tools/mindmap.html
University of Karlsruhe
LCA tools for the building sector
� BEES
� ATHENA
� ENVEST
� BREEAM
� EcoHomes
� etc.
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
� Eco-Quantum
� Greencalc
� GPR
� Toolkit
Dutch tools for the building sector
www.greencalc.com/demo.htmlwww.ivam.uva.nl/uk/producten/product7.htm
www.gprgebouw.nl www.aeneas.nl/toolkit
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Eco-Quantum: scope
What is Eco-Quantum?� A tool to calculate the environmental impact of a building,
applying the LCA method (from cradle to grave)
Goals:� Eco-design tool for architects
� Policy tool for local authorities
Users and applications:� Architects and private companies in the building sector in order
to support and implement ecodesign
� Municipalities and other local authorities to support green
building initiatives
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Materials Emissions Energy Waste
Eco-indicator
Abiotic depletion
Global warming
SmogOzone depletion
AcidificationNutrification
Human toxicity
Aquatic toxicity
Hazardous waste
Non hazardous waste
Energy
Eco-Quantum: impact assessment
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Need for harmonisation: PRESCO project
1. Consistent life
span
2. Consistent data
collection
3. Transparency and
simplicity are
important
criteria for the
end-user
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Need for harmonisation: Dutch initiative
� The same buildings give different results with
different tools;
� Common project of Dutch tool developers to
harmonise 1 method and 1 dataset to calculate the
environmental impact of buildings (co-financed by
VROM);
� Stepwise approach: materials >> buildings;
� Small but flexible project organisation consisting of
key stakeholders (tool owners and the sector).
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Conclusions: lessons learned
� The Dutch example shows that the development of a
tool like Eco-Quantum is feasible
� MRPI is an important input for tools like Eco-
Quantum
� Flexibility is more important than the banning of
certain building products (preferability of products)
� Environmental performance of buildings and
associated norms, can be measured by tools like
Eco-Quantum
� After a long experience in the assessment of
building materials (MRPI >> NEN 8006:2004), NL is
now working hard on the harmonisation of tools for
the assessment of buildings
SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
How to reach a broader public?
www.dekleineaarde.nlwww.ecosites.net
www.cat.org.ukTools should meet the needs of non-experts!
(Non-experts need some education)
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SB07 – Turin – Italy · International Conference · Sustainable Building South Europe · 7-8 June 2007
Thank you for your attention!
� Leo Breedveld – 2B ([email protected] / www.to-be.it)
� For further information, please feel free to contact me in Mogliano Veneto