International Industrial Ecology Day 2021

Life cycle assessment of a university office building and the measuring effect of material recycling through sensitivity analysis

Abstract

Emissions brought by the activities and processes in the construction industry has created inevitable harm to the environment. Life cycle assessment methodology can provide vital information on the embodied emissions of the building and its impact during its life cycle. A newly built office building located in the university was assessed based on CML2001 impact categories. The results show that the manufacturing stage contribute greater than the other building phases in four out of seven impact categories: eutrophication, ozone layer depletion, photochemical oxidation, and terrestrial ecotoxicity while the use phase contribute to the other three including the global warming potential. Steel followed by concrete pose the greatest contribution to all the selected impact categories. Through the sensitivity analysis, the study was able to show the effectiveness of using recycled structural steel and reinforced steel in mitigating the adverse environmental effect of building construction.

Author(s)

Name Affiliation
Resmond Reaño University of the Philippines Los Baños
Miguel Carlo S. Alviar University of the Philippines Los Baños
Maricel A. Eneria University of the Philippines Los Baños
Ma. Hazel T. Castillo University of the Philippines Los Baños
Richard Dean F. Morales University of the Philippines Los Baños
Richelle G. Zafra University of the Philippines Los Baños
Anthony O. Halog University of Queensland Australia

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