TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal Considerations in Life Cycle Assessments of Wooden Buildings
T2 - Implications for Design Incentives
AU - Andersen, Camilla Marlene Ernst
AU - Hoxha, Endrit
AU - Rasmussen, Freja Nygaard
AU - Sørensen, Christian Grau
AU - Birgisdottir, Harpa
PY - 2024/3/15
Y1 - 2024/3/15
N2 - The building and construction sector plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. Consequently, the use of wood and bio-based materials as a strategy for reducing the environmental impact of buildings is increasing. However, along with realising the potential environmental benefits of biomass, the focus on assessment methods and their inherent uncertainties increases. Typically, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used for quantifying the environmental performance of buildings but is often criticised for not considering temporal factors related to emissions. Therefore, dynamic LCA approaches have been developed. To understand how dynamic LCA influences building design incentives, this study compares traditional LCA and dynamic LCA results on 45 cases of wooden buildings. The study finds that the overall ranking of the buildings’ environmental performance is stable, irrespective of the method used. However, the dynamic biogenic carbon accounting methods significantly influence the results and shift burdens between upfront and future emissions. Therefore, methods for time-distributed biogenic carbon accounting crucially need addressing in LCAs of wood and bio-based products.
AB - The building and construction sector plays a vital role in mitigating climate change. Consequently, the use of wood and bio-based materials as a strategy for reducing the environmental impact of buildings is increasing. However, along with realising the potential environmental benefits of biomass, the focus on assessment methods and their inherent uncertainties increases. Typically, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is used for quantifying the environmental performance of buildings but is often criticised for not considering temporal factors related to emissions. Therefore, dynamic LCA approaches have been developed. To understand how dynamic LCA influences building design incentives, this study compares traditional LCA and dynamic LCA results on 45 cases of wooden buildings. The study finds that the overall ranking of the buildings’ environmental performance is stable, irrespective of the method used. However, the dynamic biogenic carbon accounting methods significantly influence the results and shift burdens between upfront and future emissions. Therefore, methods for time-distributed biogenic carbon accounting crucially need addressing in LCAs of wood and bio-based products.
KW - Bio-based materials
KW - Climate mitigation
KW - Dynamic LCA
KW - Practice implementation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185836089&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141260
DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141260
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0959-6526
VL - 445
JO - Journal of Cleaner Production
JF - Journal of Cleaner Production
M1 - 141260
ER -