Developing Conversion Factors of LCIA Methods for Comparison of LCA Results in the Construction Sector

Yahong Dong, Md. Uzzal Hossain, Hongyang Li and Peng Liu
Additional contact information
Yahong Dong: Qingdao Research Center for Green Development and Ecological Environment, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, No. 99 Songling Road, Qingdao 266061, China
Md. Uzzal Hossain: Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China
Hongyang Li: Business School, Hohai University, Nanjing 211100, China
Peng Liu: Qingdao Research Center for Green Development and Ecological Environment, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, No. 99 Songling Road, Qingdao 266061, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-16

Abstract: The inconsistency caused by different life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods is a long-term challenge for the life cycle assessment (LCA) community. It is necessary to systematically analyze the differences caused by LCIA methods and facilitate the fair comparison of LCA results. This study proposes an effective method of conversion factors (CFs) for converting the results of 8 LCIA methods for 14 impact categories and then demonstrates its application in the construction sector. Correlation analyses of the datasets of construction materials are conducted to develop CFs for the impact categories. A set of conversion cards are devised to present the CFs and the associated correlation information for the LCIA methods. It is revealed that the differences between LCIA methods are largely caused by the characterization methods, rather than due to the metrics. A comparison based only on the same metrics but ignoring the underlying LCIA mechanisms is misleading. High correlations are observed for the impact categories of climate change, acidification, eutrophication, and resource depletion. The developed CFs and conversion cards can greatly help LCA practitioners in the fair comparison of LCA results from different LCIA methods. Case studies are conducted, and verify that by applying the CFs the seemingly incomparable results from different LCIA methods become comparable. The CF method addresses the inconsistency problem of LCIA methods in a practical manner and helps improve the comparability and reliability of LCA studies in the construction sector. Suggestions are provided for the further development of LCIA conversion factors.

Keywords: life cycle assessment; life cycle impact assessment; harmonization; comparison; construction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9016/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9016/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9016-:d:612967

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().