Life cycle assessment

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What is life cycle assessment?

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or system through all stages of its life.

Life Cycle Assessment framework


Why is it useful?

The results of an LCA can be used effectively in the building sector for policy making and to provide quantitative fact based information for the development of ecolabels. On a company level the results can be used for product improvement from an environmental point of view.

Regulations and subsidy schemes based on LCA data as well as environmentally improved products can contribute to improve the overall sustainability performance of the housing stock in New Zealand. New Zealand specific data are a key requisite for this.

LCA has been used in the building sector overseas, but also in other industries, such as the packaging industry and the car manufacturing industry for a long time. Learning from the experience and applications of LCA will give an insight in the possible developments in New Zealand.


Beacon and LCA

Beacon commissioned a series of scoping studies in 2006 to guide the direction of future research.  Each study reviewed the technologies available in New Zealand and overseas, with a view to identifying technologies critical to mass improvement of New Zealand’s housing stock and those which required further development to get maximum impact on the market.  This was followed by life cycle assessments of the Waitakere NOW Home and two Papakowhai Renovations.  These clearly showed the greatest environmental impact of a house comes from its operation, rather than construction.  Efforts should focus on how to get the best results during operation, by incorporating the best features of each product to minimise impact over the life of the building.

Lack of New Zealand data is holding back further exploration of these issues.  Only five possible environmental impact categories were considered in this study, whereas a total of 13 are used by BRE in the Green Guide to Product Specification.  Yet other impact categories may be more pertinent to New Zealand conditions.

Beacon believes New Zealand needs to develop a national approach to providing robust information on the impact of building materials.  Co-operation between industry, government and research community to improve New Zealand’s datasets and agree a standard set of impact categories will increase the robustness and usefulness of LCA information.

 

  • 09-Jan-2007 (Report TE201/3)

    The Role of LCA in Decision Making in the Context of Sustainable Development (PDF 251KB)

    Barbara Nebel

    This paper gives examples on how the results from Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies and the process of conducting the study can assist in decision making processes. Emphasis is on explaining and guidance on interpretation of the information delivered by an LCA as an essential part of achieving broader goals such as sustainability rather than the simple comparison of products. Gives examples of companies who have already successfully implemented LCA in their organisations. The paper concludes with recommendations about using LCA more effectively in decision making processes in the built environment in New Zealand.

  • 02-Jan-2006 (Report TE200/2)

    White Paper: Life Cycle Assessment and the Building and Construction Industry (PDF 257KB)

    Barbara Nebel

    Describes the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), possible applications of the results and available tools and databases on anational and international level

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