U.S. Green Building Council Announces Proposal to Add Life Cycle Assessment into LEED
The U.S. Green Building Council�s (USGBC) Life Cycle Assessment working group has developed initial recommendations for incorporating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of building materials as part of the continuous improvement of the LEED Green Building Rating System.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Life Cycle Assessment working group has developed initial recommendations for incorporating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of building materials as part of the continuous improvement of the LEED Green Building Rating System.
The recommendations include short and long term implementation strategies as well as technical details regarding LCA methodology.
LCA is a scientific methodology that holistically evaluates the environmental impact of a product throughout its life cycle: from the extraction or harvesting of raw materials through processing, manufacture, installation, use, and ultimate disposal or recycling. In buildings it can be used to compare the environmental benefits or detriments of options available to the design team.
“Until now, there hasn’t been much work done incorporating LCA into U.S. building practice because of limited research,” says Tom Hicks, vice president, USGBC. “We are venturing into new territory, but as the nation’s leading green building organization USGBC has a responsibility to ensure that LEED's evolution addresses LCA in a meaningful and relevant manner.”
The LCA working group’s recommendation for an initial approach is to undertake LCA of the assemblies that constitute a building’s structure and envelope. The assemblies will be ranked according to their environmental impact, with LEED credits awarded accordingly.
This approach will provide a relatively quick, yet significant, infusion of LCA within LEED. According to USGBC. USGBC’s long-term objective is to make LCA a credible component of integrated design, thereby ensuring that the environmental performance of the whole building takes into account the complete building life cycle.
Any LCA-based LEED credit must meet two essential requirements:
1. Level playing field: The LCA basis of the proposed LEED credits must provide a level playing field - one that is fair and objective - based on a consistent methodology applied across all products and at all stages of their production transport use and disposal or recycling at end of life.
2. Practical use: LCA is inherently complex and the LCA tools and methods used for LCA-based LEED credits must be very practical and intuitive for designers, specifiers and facility managers to use at appropriate stages in the life cycle of buildings.
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