Search for the environmental indicators relevant for the building sector

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an internationally recognised methodology to calculate the environmental impact of goods and services. It is widely used to estimate the environmental impact of building products. Despite the general acceptance of the life cycle approach and the methodological steps (i.e. goal and scope definition, inventory, impact assessment, evaluation and interpretation), there is still a lot of debate on specific methodological issues. This paper focuses on one important challenge, namely the choice of environmental impact categories and corresponding indicators to be considered for the assessment of buildings and building products. More specifically, this paper discusses the balance to be found between assessment efficiency and comprehensiveness. Based on the experience in several LCA studies of buildings and building related products in the Belgian and French context, the identified relevant indicators are presented and discussed. The lessons learned are described and recommendations are formulated.

ISBN:978-84-697-1815-5

Jaar van publicatie:2014

Toegankelijkheid:Closed