Chapter
Apr 26, 2012
The Basics of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Structural Engineers
Publication: Structures Congress 2008: Crossing Borders
Abstract
Structural engineers are now expected to consider the environmental impacts of their designs, alongside the more traditional performance measures of strength, safety, serviceability and cost. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to analyze the environmental impacts of a building, from construction to end-of-life; thereby identifying ways to reduce those impacts. The application of LCA to the complex, inter-related nature of buildings represents a significant challenge and the field continues to develop rapidly. Nevertheless, LCA is becoming an important tool in the building design industry, and structural engineers need to be conversant in the basics of LCA. This paper will introduce fundamental concepts of LCA of buildings allowing structural engineers to become more involved in the sustainable building design process.
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Copyright
© 2008 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
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ASCE Technical Topics:
- Building design
- Buildings
- Business management
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Green buildings
- Life cycles
- Management methods
- Practice and Profession
- Quality control
- Structural behavior
- Structural design
- Structural engineering
- Structural safety
- Structural strength
- Structures (by type)
- Sustainable development
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Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837. E-mail: [email protected]
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Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.
Terms of Use: ASCE Library Cards are for individual, personal use only. Reselling, republishing, or forwarding the materials to libraries or reading rooms is prohibited.