Building life cycle

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Building life cycle refers to the view of a building over the course of its entire life, viewing it not just as an operational building, but taking into account the design, construction, operation, demolition and waste treatment. [1] The study of the entire impact of a building on its environment has become a de facto requirement for construction in most jurisdictions, [2] owing to the resource-intensive nature of construction. Life cycle analysis considers various aspects of resource utilization in a building, for example, overall energy conservation. Current research is focused on exploring methods of incorporating a whole life cycle view of buildings. [2] It is considered a subset of life-cycle analysis.

Contents

History

The concept of life cycle analysis evolved since the concept was initially considered in the 1970s and 1980s, [3] when life cycle studies focused on the quantifying the energy and raw resources used by a building, and the load on the sewerage and sanitation systems imposed by waste generated in the building, during the operational life of the structure. Since then, the methods of analysis has evolved, and presently comprises four stages - definition of scope, inventory analysis and life cycle impact assessment. [3] In the period from 2000 to 2014, studies on sustainable building strategies, for example, energy consumption, specific components of construction, materials, environmental impacts of building subsystems, integrated renewable energy systems,and electrical and thermal systems have been conducted, with the number of publications rising monotonically. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Sustainable urbanism

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Environmental systems analysis (ESA) is a systematic and systems based approach for describing human actions impacting on the natural environment to support decisions and actions aimed at perceived current or future environmental problems. Impacts of different types of objects are studied that ranges from projects, programs and policies, to organizations, and products. Environmental systems analysis encompasses a family of environmental assessment tools and methods, including life cycle assessment (LCA), material flow analysis (MFA) and substance flow analysis (SFA), and environmental impact assessment (EIA), among others.

Precise definitions of sustainable construction vary from place to place, and are constantly evolving to encompass varying approaches and priorities. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines sustainable construction as "the practice of creating structures and using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and deconstruction." The Netherlands defines sustainable construction as "a way of building which aims at reducing (negative) health and environmental impacts caused by the construction process or by buildings or by the built-up environment." More comprehensively, sustainability can be considered from three dimension of planet, people and profit across the entire construction supply chain. Key concepts include the protection of the natural environment, choice of non-toxic materials, reduction and reuse of resources, waste minimization, and the use of life-cycle cost analysis.

References

  1. Kotaji, Shpresa (2003). Life-cycle assessment in building and construction: a state-of-the-art report. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.
  2. 1 2 3 Geng, Shengnan; Wang, Yuan; Zuo, Jian; Zhou, Zhihua; Du, Huibin; Mao, Guozhu (September 2017). "Building life cycle assessment research: A review by bibliometric analysis". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 76: 176–184. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.03.068.
  3. 1 2 Sharma, Aashish; Saxena, Abhishek; Sethi, Muneesh; Shree, Venu; Varun (January 2011). "Life cycle assessment of buildings: A review". Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 15 (1): 871–875. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2010.09.008.