IEA EBC Annex 72: Assessing Life Cycle Related Environmental Impacts Caused by Buildings: Guidelines for design decision-makers:Energy in Buildings and Communities Technology Collaboration Programme

The purpose of this report is to provide support to the design decisions-makers during the design process. For each of the defined design step decision the important topics to consider were identified, the key stakeholders are declared and the purpose of LCA at the selected design step is defined. The report covers: The definition of the design steps, the definition of the tasks in each design step and an overview of the relevant milestones for performing LCA; An overview of the systematic building decomposition methods and the appropriate levels at each design step; An overview of the tools that can be used for LCA and a selection process for choosing the right LCA tool. A special emphasize is given to the topic of Building Information Modelling (BIM), how the BIM tools can facilitate the LCA assessment and what information should be implemented in the BIM model; Strategies on how to reduce the design-related uncertainties; An overview of the visualization of the LCA results and which are appropriate in the selected design steps

Predicting operational energy consumption profiles - findings from detailed surveys and modelling in a UK educational building compared to measured consumption

This paper presents the preliminary findings from the first stage of a physical survey and modelling Case Study conducted to obtain Modelled and Actual Energy Consumption Profiles for a UK multi-storey mixed use educational building. The purpose of the study is to provide an insight into how accurately current models and software can predict the actual energy consumption in such a building, with a view to informing the development of Operational and Asset Ratings for Buildings in the EU as part of the EPBD Article 7 requirements. The study also briefly discusses the potential problems inherent in the use of modelling techniques for assessing the energy performance of buildings. The data obtained through this study enabled predicted energy consumption profiles for both heating/cooling and electrical energy use to be obtained, as well as a UK SBEM asset-type compliance rating. The predicted profiles and compliance rating were then compared to the monitored actual energy consumption profiles obtained over the same period. It was seen that the various modelling approaches gave a reasonable prediction of the gas consumption, and a reasonable estimate of the electrical consumption using the SBEM. However, overall it was felt that the models were still too inaccurate to be used with any confidence. The relative agreement between the SBEM results in this Case Study and the measured consumption supports the view that for prediction of electrical consumption then statistically derived numbers, such as benchmarks, are likely to enable reasonably confident predictions of energy use by generic activity type

Assessing the Operational Energy Profiles of UK educational buildings: findings from detailed surveys and modelling compared to measured consumption

This paper presents the preliminary findings from the first stage of a physical survey and modelling Case Study conducted to obtain Modelled and Actual Energy Consumption Profiles for a UK multi-storey mixed use educational building. The purpose of the study is to provide an insight into how accurately current models and software can predict the actual energy consumption in such a building, with a view to informing the development of Operational and Asset Ratings for Buildings in the EU as part of the EPBD Article 7 requirements. The study also briefly discusses the potential problems inherent in the use of modelling techniques for assessing the energy performance of buildings. The data obtained through this study allowed predicted energy usage profiles to be compiled from the level of individual items of equipment through to the whole building. These data were subsequently analysed using standard spreadsheet and building energy simulation software. The results of the analysis enabled predicted energy consumption profiles for both heating/cooling and electrical energy use to be obtained, as well as a UK iSBEM asset-type compliance rating. The predicted profiles and compliance rating were then compared to the monitored actual energy consumption profiles obtained over the same period. The main conclusions were that, despite the time needed to undertake the physical survey, the level of detail of this study and survey were insufficient to predict the energy consumptions of the building with confidence. It was seen that the various approaches gave a reasonable estimate of the gas consumption using ECOTECT, and a reasonable estimate of the electrical consumption using iSBEM. However, overall it was felt that the models were too inaccurate to be used with any confidence. This results of this Case Study also support the view that for prediction of electrical consumption then statistical measures, such as benchmarks, are likely to enable more confident predictions of energy use by generic activity type

Visualising LCA results in the design process - A Contribution to IEA EBC Annex 72:Energy in Buildings and Communities Technology Collaboration Programme

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is increasingly used for decision-making in the design process of buildings and neighbourhoods. Therefore, visualisation of LCA results to support interpretation and decision­making becomes more important. The number of building LCA tools and the published literature has increased substantially in recent years. Most of them include some type of visualisation. However, there are currently no clear guidelines and no harmonised way of presenting LCA results. In this report, we review the current state of the art in visualising LCA results to provide a structured overview. Furthermore, we discuss recent and potential future developments. The review results show a great variety in visualisation options. By matching them with common applications of LCA we provide a structured basis for future developments. Case studies combining different kinds of visualisations within the design environment, interactive dashboards, and immersive technologies, such as virtual reality, show a big potential for facilitating the interpretation of LCA results and collaborative design processes. The overview and recommendations presented in this report provide a basis for future development of intuitive and design-integrated visualisation of LCA results to support decision-making

Investigating transparency regarding ecoinvent users' system model choices

PurposeLife cycle assessment (LCA) is a data-intensive methodology; therefore, experts usually focus collection efforts on a few activities, while generic data on remaining activities are taken from databases. Even though increased availability of databases has facilitated LCA takeoff, assuring data quality is fundamental to ensure meaningful results and reliable interpretation.MethodsEcoinvent has become a global reference for inventory data. Its current version released three impact partition modeling optionsthe recycled content, allocation at the point of substitution (APOS), and consequential modelswhose adequate choice is crucial for yielding meaningful assessments. Tutorials and manuals describe the distribution algorithm that backs each system model, to ground decision-making regarding the best fit to a study's goals. We performed a systematic literature review to investigatewithin the papers published on the International Journal of LCA (IJLCA)how transparently authors addressed the system model choices.Results and discussionAbout 70% of LCA practitioners continued to use earlier versions of ecoinvent after version 3 was launched in 2013. The number of papers using versions 3.x only showed an increased growth trend 2years later. Eighty-three papers actually adopted the newest version of the database. From those, only 29 papers clearly mentioned the adopted system model. Our SLR also suggests a trend regarding authorship profile of LCA-related studies: the number of studies conducted by practitioners aware of the intricacies of sound modeling of background and foreground data might have been surpassed by those conducted by non-LCA specialists who use LCA as a supporting tool for investigations in applied fields, and merely scratch the surface.ConclusionsOur results point to a need for a caveat: ecoinvent users must take time to understand the general concept behind each system model and practice one of the most important actions when performing an LCAstate methodological choices clearly24115CNPQ - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológiconão te