Session
WE.2.A || Life Cycle Sustainability in Construction and Renovation of Buildings II

Authors
Dong, Yahong; Liu, Peng

Abstract
Life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) is an effective instrument evolved from life cycle assessment (LCA). LCSA can evaluate not only the environmental impacts, but also economic and social impacts. Buildings have significant impacts to environment, economy and society throughout the life span. In order to understand the environmental, economic and social impacts of buildings, this study employs LCSA to evaluate a residential building project in Qingdao, a coastal city located in northeast China. The model considers “cradle-to-grave” life cycle stages, including production, transportation, construction, and demolition. In the environmental aspect, ReCiPe is adopted as the assessment method and both midpoint and endpoint impact categories are analyzed. In the economic aspect, external costs due to carbon emissions are analyzed in addition to the internal costs. In the social aspect, the model considers three stakeholders, i.e., worker, local community and society. As the first attempt to implement LCSA model to assess the whole life cycle of buildings in mainland China, outcomes of this study can significantly improve the understanding of sustainability of buildings and therefore promote the sustainable development of the building industry.