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Building and Environment 42 (2007) 1391–1394

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Life cycle assessment: A case study of a dwelling home in Scotland

M. Asif, T. Muneer, R. Kelley
School of Engineering, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, UK
Received 6 January 2004; received in revised form 3 October 2005; accepted 17 November 2005

Abstract

The article provides a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a 3-bed room semi detached house in Scotland. Detailed LCA of five main
construction materials i.e. wood, aluminium, glass, concrete and ceramic tiles have been provided to determine their respective embodied
energy and associated environmental impacts. Embodied energy of various construction materials involved has been estimated to be
equal to 227.4 GJ. It is found that concrete, timber and ceramic tiles are the three major energy expensive materials involved. It as been
calculated that concrete alone consumes 65% of the total embodied energy of the home while its share of environmental impacts is even
more crucial.
r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Life cycle assessment; Global warming; Sustainability; Embodied energy

1. Introduction ores is an involved activity that not only consumes energy

but also results into waste generation. There is also an
Concerns about local and global environmental situation intimate connection between energy, environment and sus-
are rising in the developed and developing world. Global tainable development. Because of the substantial environ-
warming, ozone depletion, destruction of natural habitats, mental impacts involved, many industrialised countries
and loss of biodiversity are the cause of much debate in have, in recent years, seen activities directed at environ-
international forums. Global warming, and its various mental improvement of the building process, the use of
potential effects on the earth, is a consequence of a long- buildings and deconstruction. Such activities are largely
term accumulation of the so-called greenhouse gases (CO2, different between countries. This is understandable to the
CH4, N2O, etc.) in the higher layer of atmosphere. The extent that building construction is often strongly deter-
emission of these gases is the result of intensive human mined by local traditions, local climatology and available
activities such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation natural resources. Moreover environmental impacts of
and land-use changes [1]. In such a prevailing global similar production processes involved in building may vary
environmental scenario sustainability is the need of hour strongly between countries. Whereas, for example, elec-
and should be given the prime importance in execution of tricity used in different countries is produced from different
activities in all sectors in order to keep future secure for resources, nuclear, hydropower etc that leads to diverging
coming generations. environmental impacts.
To achieve the goals of sustainability it is required to In every country, the construction industry is a major
adopt a multi disciplinary approach covering a number of contributor to socio-economic development and also a
features such as: energy saving, improved use of materials, major user of energy and natural resources. Building
reuse and recycling and emissions control. Materials are construction industry consumes 40% of the materials
normally found in nature in impure form, e.g. in ores. entering the global economy and generates 40–50% of
Extraction or purification of materials from their natural the global output of greenhouse gases and the agents of
acid rain [2]. It is therefore essential to involve the building
Corresponding author. Tel.: +44 131 4552369; fax: +44 131 4552264. construction industry to achieve sustainable development
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Asif). in the society. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a very helpful

0360-1323/$ - see front matter r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2005.11.023
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1392 M. Asif et al. / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 1391–1394

tool in this regard that not only provides an account of 3. Life cycle assessment
materials and energy involved in a product or system but
also measures the associated environmental impacts, as Life cycle assessment is a process to evaluate the
also highlighted by the ‘Earth Summit 2002’, which, in its environmental burdens associated with a product, process,
plan of action, has urged the world to: or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and
materials used and wastes released to the environment: to
Develop production and consumption policies to assess the impact of those energy and materials used and
improve the products and services provided, while releases to the environment: and to identify and evaluate
reducing environmental and health impacts, where opportunities to affect environmental improvements. The
appropriate, science-based approaches, such as life cycle assessment includes the entire life cycle of the product,
analysis [3]. process or activity, encompassing, extracting and proces-
This article provides a life cycle assessment of a typical sing raw materials: manufacturing, transportation and
semi detached three-bedroom house in Scotland. Embo- distribution: use, re-use, maintenance: recycling, and final
died energy of the materials mainly involved in construc- disposal.
tion and their associated environmental impacts has been ISO 14040 (1997) defines LCA as
estimated. The results and findings of the presented work ‘LCA is a technique for assessing the potential environ-
also include data and information collected from quantity mental aspects associated with a product (or service) by
surveyors, architects and builders involved in construction compiling an inventory of relevant inputs and outputs,
of the house. evaluating the potential environmental impacts asso-
ciated with these inputs and outputs, and interpreting
2. Construction materials the results of the inventory and impact phases in relation
to the objectives of the study’ [4].
Timber has been the traditional building material having Generally there are four interactive steps necessary for a
been widely used for numerous applications in construction complete life cycle study: planning, inventory analysis,
sector i.e. framing, flooring, roofing and lining. In relatively impact assessment and improvement analysis.
recent times a range of alternative materials have been
successfully introduced into the construction industry such  Planning: It defines the goals and objectives of the LCA
as steel, concrete, aluminium, plastics. The choice of framework including the investigation boundaries,
construction materials employed depends on the intended breadth and depth of study.
use of building, its design and architecture. In the past the  Inventory analysis: It provides a quantitative input/
factors further influencing the choice of building materials output account of the product or system i.e. energy, raw
were predominantly cost, availability and appearance. material, air emissions, water-borne effluent and solid
However, these days environmental suitability of materials waste are examined and measured.
is another important factor that is being acknowledged by  Impact assessment: It evaluates how the product or
consumers. system affects the environment adopting a qualitative
Materials involved in construction can normally be and quantitative approach to analyse how raw material
categorised into main families of materials i.e., stone, use, energy generation, water production, effluent out-
concrete, metals, wood, plastics and ceramics. These put, air emission and solid waste affect the environment.
materials can be used in a wide and diverse variety of  Improvement analysis: This involves making improve-
architectural applications as given below. ments to reduce environmental burdens associated with
the product or system through taking an objective view
 electrical-service distribution, lighting; of the entire life cycle and assessing the impact that
 finishes-wallboards, tiles, flooring, wall coverings, paint, changes would have on the environment.
wallpaper;
 masonry and stonework-walls, roofing; 3.1. Scope and boundaries of the LCA work undertaken
 mechanical-plumbing, refrigeration, air distribution,
heating, cooling; The present work has addressed eight different materials
 metalwork-structural metal framing, joists, ornamental, that were of significance in the construction of the studied
decorative; house. These materials include: timber, glass, concrete,
 site work-excavation, foundation, landscaping, paving, ceramic tiles, aluminium, plasterboard, slat and damp
surfacing, walls and fences; course. Out of these eight materials, detailed life cycle
 thermal & moisture-waterproofing, sealants, roofing, assessment has been provided for five main materials
membranes, flashing; that are more important in terms of their embodied
 wood & engineered plastic wood products-carpentry, energy and environmental impacts characteristics. These
timber, lumber, prefabricated wood; materials include: timber, glass, concrete, ceramic tiles and
 windows & doors-hardware, carpentry, glazing, frames. aluminium.
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M. Asif et al. / Building and Environment 42 (2007) 1391–1394 1393

phur dioxide, Nitrogen oxides and alkaline wastewater.

Concrete has a global warming potential (GWP) of
65 g/kg [5].
 Timber: Timber is considered to be a recyclable material
since at the end of its service life, a timber product can
be down-cycled and can be used for many purposes for
example, in chipboard production, animal bedding or
garden projects. Timber is reported to have a GWP
value of 116 g/kg [5].
 Glass: The two main environmental factors associated
with glass production are the high primary energy
consumption with related energy pollution and the
material pollution. Glass has a GWP of 569 g/kg [5].
 Ceramic tiles: They have huge environmental impacts
associated with their production. Potential polluting
elements released as a direct result of their production
include carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, fluorine and
possible chromium. The GWP value for ceramic tiles is
equivalent 571 g/kg [5].
 Aluminium: It requires a great deal of energy to be
produced. This energy consumption in itself brings
environmental burdens besides the large amounts of
pollutants released during the production process. The
pollutants resulting from aluminium production process
include substances like carbon dioxide (CO2), acidic
sulphur dioxide (SO2), polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), and gases having global warming potential
i.e. perfluorocarbons (PFCs), tetrafluoromethane (CF4)
and hexafluoroethane (C2F6) [5,6].

4. Embodied energy analysis for the complete house

Embodied energy values of the individual materials

involved in construction have been summarised in Table 1.
Fig. 1. Sketch of the studied home. It can be seen that concrete is the most significant material
not only in terms of quantity used and embodied energy,
but also for the associated environmental impacts. Results,
The work undertaken provides LCA of a three-bedroom as shown in Fig. 2, indicate that concrete alone stands for
semi detached dwelling home in Scotland. The involved
materials were quantified through investigating the inven- Table 1
tory reports, direct observations, and interviewing the An audit of materials consumed in constructing the home and their
contractors and local housing association personnel. Fig. 1 associated embodied energy and environmental impacts [5–8]
shows the layout of the studied home. Material Quantity Embodied Environmental impacts
(kg) energy (MJ)
3.2. Environmental impacts associated with the material CO2 SOx NOx
used in the construction of home Timber 5725 30 000 664.1 5.7 5.7
Concrete 130 800 130 800 605 454 16 194 7403
A number of different materials were used in the Glass 313.6 4077 178.4 13.8 0.6
construction of the studied home. This section provides a Aluminium 25.3 5870 48.1 0.3 0.1
Slate 432 43.2 3.5
brief detail of the environmental impacts associated with
Ceramic 4030 32240 2301 16.1 205.5
the key materials used in the construction process. tiles
Plaster 1080 5400 286.2 3.2 2.2
 Concrete: The production of concrete is quite complex board
and environmentally impacting process as it releases Damp 28.3 1889 25.4 0.2 0
course
various pollutants such as, carbon dioxide, heavy
Mortar 2400 2400 9600 2400 120
metals, organic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, sul-
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slating damp course Mortar timber embodied energy respectively. Embodied contents the
plaster board 0% 1% 1% 14%
3% materials used in construction indicate that the total
aluminium embodied energy of the home is 227.4 GJ.
glass
3%
2%
It is seen that concrete is the most significant construc-
tion material employed in the studied home not only in
ceramic tiles
15% terms of quantity consumed but also for the embodied
energy and associated environmental impacts. Concrete as
a material has large amount of associated environmental
impacts. Since concrete has been used in very large
quantity, results indicate that concrete and mortar are
concrete responsible for 99% of the total CO2 resulting from the
61%
home construction.
Fig. 2. Embodied energy distribution in the house.

Acknowledgements
61% of the total embodied energy of the home while its
Authors are thankful both to Mr. Alastair Nicoll of
share of environmental impacts is even much higher (up to
KLM Partnership Chartered Surveyors and Mr. Ian
99%). After concrete, timber and ceramic tiles are the two
Gullane of West Lothian Council for their time and help
important materials accounting for 13% and 14% of the in collecting the necessary data required for this project.
total embodied energy respectively. Energy values indicate
that the total embodied energy of the home is 227.4 GJ.
It can be seen from Table 1 that concrete as a material References
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a large share of the gross embodied energy and environ- September 2002.
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principles and framework, ISO, Paris.
[5] Berge B. The Ecology of Building Materials. Architectural Press; 2001.
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used is equal to 147 900 MJ that makes 65% of the total
May 1994.
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