Example of a Hybrid Life-Cycle Assessment of Construction Processes
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 12, Issue 4
Abstract
Design and construction industries, along with owners, have an increasing interest in and responsibility for the environmental impacts of buildings. Since the environmental impacts of a building’s life cycle are considerable, quantification of all phases is important, especially the construction phase, which is often glossed over. This research focuses on the construction phase of a building project. Generally, the life-cycle inventory created in performing a life-cycle assessment (LCA) is developed using either a process or input–output approach; however, both techniques have distinct advantages and disadvantages. A hybrid approach combining both methods’ advantages has been proposed and will be demonstrated. Existing hybrid models are reviewed, along with a recommendation of a hybrid model for construction. A preliminary case study of a precast concrete parking garage’s construction using hybrid LCA methodology is presented. Preliminary investigations indicate transportation, equipment activity, and support functions have the largest effects on the environment.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Financial support for this research was provided by National Science Foundation Grant No. NSFCMS-0327878.
References
Adriaanse, A. (1993). “Environmental policy performance indicators-A study on the development of indicators for environmental policy in The Netherlands.” SDU Publishers, Hague, The Netherlands.
American National Standards Institute/International Organization for Standardization (ANI/ISO). (1997). “Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Principals and framework,” Geneva, Switzerland.
Bullard, C. W., Penner, P. S., and Pilati, D. A. (1978). “Net energy analysis, handbook for combining process and input-output analysis.” Resources and Energy, 1(3), 267–313.
Green Design Institute, Carnegie Mellon University (2004). “Economic input–output analysis—Life cycle assessment.” ⟨http://www.eiolca.net⟩ (November 2004).
Guggemos, A. (2003). “Environmental impacts of on-site construction: Focus on structural frames.” Doctoral dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkley, Calif.
Hendrickson, C., and Horvath, A. (2000). “Resource use and environmental emissions of U. S. construction sectors.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 126(1), 38–44.
Hendrickson, C., Horvath, A., Joshi, S., and Lave, L. (1998). “Economic input–output models for environmental life-cycle assessment.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(7), 184A–191A.
Hondo, H., Nishimura, K., and Uchiyama, Y. (1996). “Energy requirements and emissions in the production of good and services: Applications of an input-output table to life cycle analysis.” CRIEPI Rep. No. Y95013, Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, Tokyo.
Joshi, S. (2000). “Product environmental life-cycle assessment using input-output techniques.” J. Ind. Ecol., 3(2&3), 95–120.
Junnila, S., and Horvath, A. (2003). “Life-cycle environmental effects of an office building.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 9(4), 157–166.
Keoleian, G., et al. (2001). “Life-cycle energy, costs, and strategies for improving a single-family house.” J. Ind. Ecol., 4(2), 135–156.
Lave, L., Cobas-Flores, E., Hendrickson, C., and McMichael, F. (1995). “Using input-output analysis to estimate economy wide discharges.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 29(9), 420A–426A.
Leontief, W. W. (1936). “Quantitative input and output relations in the economic systems of the Unites States.” Rev. Econ. Stat., 18(3), 105–125.
Matthews, H. S., and Lave, L. (2000). “Applications of environmental valuation for determining externality costs.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 34(8), 1390–1395.
Matthews, H. S., Roth, M., Sharrard, A., and Bilec, M. (2005). “Economic and environmental implications of construction energy use under new EPA emission standards.” Proc., Construction Research Congress, San Diego.
Moriguchi, Y., Kondo, Y., and Shimizu, H. (1993). “Analyzing the life cycle impacts of Cars: The case of ” Industry and Environment, 16(1–2), 42–45.
Munksgaard, J., Pedersen, K. A., and Wier, M. (2000). “Impacts of household consumption on emissions.” Energy Economics, 22(4), 423–440.
Ochoa, L., Hendrickson, C., and Matthews, H. S. (2002). “Economic input-output life-cycle assessment of U. S. residential buildings.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 8(4), 132–138.
Peurifoy, R. L., and Schexnayder, C. J. (2002). Construction planning, equipment, and methods, 6th ed., McGraw Hill, New York.
PRe Consultants. (2001). SimaPro 5.0, database manual, the Franklin US LCI Library, Written by Sylvatica, Greg Norris, The Netherlands.
PRe Consultants and ESU Services. (2001). SimaPro 5.0, database manual, The ETH-ESU 96 Library. Written by ESU-Services, R. Frischknecht and N. Jungbluth, The Netherlands.
SimaPro 5.0 (2001). “SimaPro 5.0 software.” PRe Consultants, The Netherlands.
Suh, S. (2004). “Functions, commodities and environmental impacts in an ecological-economic model.” Ecological Economics, 48, 451–467.
Suh, S., et al. (2004). “System boundary selection in life-cycle inventories.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 38(3), 657–664.
U.S. Department of Commerce. (2000). “1997 Economic census, Industry summary: Construction, subject series.” EC97C23S-IS, Washington, D.C.
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2001a). “Table F11: Electricity consumption, price, and expenditure estimates by sector, 2001.” ⟨http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_fuel/html/fuel_es.html⟩ (July, 13 2005).
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2001b). “Table F18: Total energy consumption, price, and expenditure by sector, 2001.” ⟨http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/states/sep_fuel/html/fuel_te. html⟩ (July, 13 2005).
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2003). “Figure 110. Carbon dioxide emissions by sector and fuel, 2003 and 2005.” ⟨http://www.eia.doe.gov. oiaf/aeo/excel/figure110_data.xls⟩ (July, 25 2005).
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (1998). “Characterization of building related construction and demolition debris in the United States,” Rep. No. EPA 530-R-98-010, Prepared by Franklin Associates.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). (2000). “Estimated use of water in the United State in 2000.” ⟨http://water.usgs.gov/pubs/circ/2004/circ1268/htdocs/text-total.html⟩ (July 17, 2005).
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). (2002). Green building rating system for new construction and major renovations (LEED-NC), version 2.1. (November 2002).
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). (2004). “Global use of LEED.” ⟨http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/About/usgbc_intro.ppt⟩ (April 20, 2004).
Zapata, P., and Gambatese, J. A. (2005). “Energy consumption of asphalt and reinforced concrete pavement materials and construction.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 11(1), 9–20.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2005). “Clean diesel.” ⟨http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/⟩ (May 12, 2005).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 12 • Issue 4 • December 2006
Pages: 207 - 215
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 26, 2005
Accepted: Sep 22, 2005
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.