Category: New buildings

In the last 20 years energy efficiency has become an increasingly important aspect of the planning and evaluation of buildings, as well as a subject of legislation within the EU. As a result, the operational energy consumption of new and refurbished buildings has decreased considerably during this time. Figure 1 shows the ratio between the…

This guidance document – the EeBGuide – provides information on calculation rules, metrics, provisions and instructions for LCA studies of energy-efficient buildings and building products for European research projects of the E2B Initiative. The core objective is to give pragmatic and relevant guidance to LCA practitioners and construction experts on how to move forward in…

This guidance is focused on LCA studies of buildings and building products within the framework of the Energy-Efficient Building European Initiative (E2B EI), which creates technologies for an energy-efficient Europe. LCA assesses the environmental loads and performance of these new products and technologies, demonstrated mainly within building applications. LCA is used within European research projects…

The EeBGuide is oriented mainly at LCA practitioners and/or building LCA tool developers. It is not an introduction for novice LCA users, as it assumes a basic knowledge of the standards [ISO 14040], [ISO 14044], the ILCD Handbook, and EN 15978 and EN 15804, as well as practical experience, although detailed knowledge of these is…

The secondary audience includes LCA practitioners who seek practical yet scientifically sound guidance to deliver an LCA study that is, as far as possible, in line both with the European standards on environmental performances of buildings (EN 15804 and EN 15978) and with the ILCD Handbook. Another secondary audience comprises developers of LCA software for…

Several European projects dealing with LCA and buildings have been conducted over the past few years. Most of them were aimed at adapting the methodological rules for LCA studies in the construction sector and enabling the development of user-friendly tools that can be used by building stakeholders, who are usually not LCA experts. These projects…

LCA, as an instrument to assess the environmental performance of buildings and building products, is generally seen as a way to provide a holistic overview of a building’s or product’s life cycle. It is generally standardized in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 as an instrument to assess the environmental performance of products and services. For…

In numerous European research projects, LCA is used as a supporting study method that is typically seen to be somewhat independent from the rest of the project. If, for instance, LCA is used at the end of a project, the environmental optimization potentials cannot be exploited, as the LCA results cannot be fed back into…

The primary objective of the EeBGuide is to provide consistent calculation rules and operational guidance for LCA studies conducted within the context of research projects within the Energy-Efficient Buildings European Initiative (E2B EI, or Energy-Efficient Buildings Public Private Partnership, EeB PPP). Such research projects use LCA for supporting decisions during the development of technologies, and/or…

The EeBGuide benefits from a comprehensive approach to identifying key aspects of the LCA methodology applied to products and buildings that need further clarification. Using the steps of the LCA framework (goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, impact assessment, interpretation), as well as the life cycle stages of a building from cradle to grave, allowed…