Life cycle assessment (LCA) - Buildings

• Certification
• Focus UE
• For: Design & construction
• Type: Sustainability

Life cycle assessment is a scientific methodology used to calculate the environmental impacts, including the carbon footprint, of a product, service, process or building over its entire life cycle.

It is possible to calculate the LCA of a building to see how it will affect the environment throughout its existence, from the extraction of raw materials to the construction phase, use and finally demolition and disposal.

It is a cradle-to-grave LCA (it includes all stages of the life cycle) and will take into account the following parts of the building: foundations, structure, envelopes and partitions, roofing, finishes and cladding, carpentry, painting, and sanitary fixtures. It also considers energy consumption, water consumption and waste management during the construction stage and, finally, energy demand during operation and waste disposal at the end of its useful life.

Reference standards:

• UNE-EN 15978:2012 Sustainability of construction works - Assessment of environmental performance of buildings - Calculation methods.
• ISO 21930:2017 Sustainability in buildings and civil engineering works - Basic rules for environmental declarations of construction products and services.