Benchmarking the Life-Cycle Environmental Performance of Buildings

Helena Gervasio, Silvia Dimova and Artur Pinto
Additional contact information
Helena Gervasio: ISISE, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Coimbra, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal
Silvia Dimova: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Safety and Security of Buildings Unit, TP 480, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra, VA 21027, Italy
Artur Pinto: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Safety and Security of Buildings Unit, TP 480, Via E. Fermi 2749, Ispra, VA 21027, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 5, 1-30

Abstract: The work presented in this paper is part of a research project aiming for the development of a performance-based approach for sustainable design, focusing on the efficient use of natural resources over the lifetime of buildings. The proposed approach requires the set of benchmarks to provide a consistent and transparent yardstick for the environmental performance of buildings and to strive towards an effective reduction in the use of resources and relative environmental impacts in the building sector. This paper focuses on the development of the framework for the quantification of the benchmarks. Additionally, a review of available benchmarks is provided, showing a huge diversity of values. One of the main factors contributing to such diversity is the lack of a reliable model for the quantification of the benchmarks. To overcome this problem, a consistent model for life-cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted, which is based on a standardized framework and enables comparability of results. Based on the proposed approach, a preliminary set of benchmarks for residential buildings is defined, leading to values in the range of 5–12 kg CO 2 /m 2 .yr and 68–186 MJ/m 2 .yr, for life-cycle global warming and total primary energy, respectively.

Keywords: life-cycle analysis; benchmarking; resource efficiency; buildings; sustainable design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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