Construction, ISO 14001:2015 and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

This is done by controlling or influencing the way the organization’s products and services are designed, manufactured, distributed, consumed and disposed by using a life cycle perspective that can prevent environmental impacts from being unintentionally shifted elsewhere within the life cycle.

What is a Life Cycle?

According to the ISO 14001:2015 standard, the life cycle definition is ‘the consecutive and interlinked stages of a product (or service) system, from the raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal’.

Why the Life Cycle is relevant to the Construction Industry?

The construction industry has been using materials such as stone, bricks, wood, concrete, glass or metal, which perform differently depending on the location, climate or quality of work. This use returns different environmental impacts considering the above factors and the life cycle.

The use of more global materials (PVC, aluminium, steel, ceramics, cement) has increased the energy cost at all levels, as well as giving a higher impact on the environment, being those more challenging to recycle, reuse or recover. The design of the building depends on many factors, but in general terms, 1 square meter of building equals half a tonne of CO2 emitted into the air, consuming 1,600 kWh of energy.

The construction sector significantly impacts the natural resources, which uses 50 of every 100 tonnes extracted. The energy cost in this process goes to 40% of the total energy consumption and 50% of the total waste.

Fundamentals to consider in the LCA

Acquiring raw materials, transporting, converting, producing, using and excluding them demands specific technology and construction methods. An exhaustive life cycle analysis is relevant to determine what factors associated with certain environmental aspects can be mitigated to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts. Nevertheless, it is also essential to focus not only on the reduction or elimination of the negative impacts.

Considering actions that create positive environmental impacts is not always seen and evaluated.
All the stages of a construction project, from design, construction, test, use, maintenance and decommissioning, interact and must not be isolated in the life cycle assessment. The cost involved in some stages will give balance to other ones. For example, reducing costs in the construction stage will probably influence the cost and negative impact in the use and maintenance stage.
 

Figure: Life Cycle Stages in the Construction Process.

Useful Information

Two documents describe the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA). Those are:
ISO 14040:2006 - Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Principles and framework.

Including:

• Definition of the goal and scope of the LCA

• The life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase

• The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase

• The life cycle interpretation phase

• Reporting and critical review of the LCA

• Limitations of the LCA, the relationship between the LCA phases

• Conditions for use of value choices and optional elements

ISO 14044:2006 - Environmental management — Life cycle assessment — Requirements and guidelines.

Including:

• Requirements and guidelines for life cycle assessment (LCA)

• Definition of the goal and scope of the LCA

• The life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase

• The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase

• The life cycle interpretation phase

• Reporting and critical review of the LCA

• Limitations of the LCA

• Relationship between the LCA phases

• Conditions for use of value choices and optional elements

 
Author: Pablo Pineda, NQA Regional Assessor