OVERVIEW
Life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is the science of quantifying environmental impacts through the entire process of creating, transporting, using, and disposing of a product or material. The methods are well developed, but there are blind spots.
The creator of life-cycle assessment famously stated, “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” That’s important to keep in mind as you attempt to compare the impacts of two different building designs or two different products.
These resources about LCA help explain:
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what types of data are usually reliable in an LCA
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how to get the info you need from an environmental product declaration
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where LCA can go wrong
- the politics of LCA and how it relates to product and building certifications
IN-DEPTH
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Study Reinforces Carbon Benefit of Renovation
News Brief
A new study of the U.N. headquarters demonstrates how retrofitting existing buildings is a critical strategy for addressing the urgency of climate change.
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Building Products Matter Even More Than We Thought
Op-Ed
Operational energy use is critical, but materials might be an even bigger part of the solution to climate change and other pressing environmental issues.
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Study Vets Materials for Entire Wall Assemblies
News Brief
When you look at the whole assembly, it can change how you see the materials. Here XPS and fiberglass come out ahead, and SPF behind.
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EPD Quick-Start Guide: 5 Easy Steps
Infographic
Use these tips to get what you need from an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), fast.
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Retrofit or Build New? How Product Teams are Choosing
Infographic
Reasons to retrofit, reasons to tear down and build new, and how to decide.
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How to Read an EPD: 7 Tips from the Field (Video)
Primer
In this short video primer, Arup engineer Frances Yang explains how to get what you need from environmental product declarations.
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What’s an EPD? Environmental Product Declaration FAQs
Feature Short
We answer FAQs on EPDs, which allow manufacturers to disclose a product’s carbon footprint and other impacts.
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Wood, Concrete, and Steel—And Their Incomparable EPDs
Feature Short
Don’t expect the turf battles over sustainability of structural systems to be settled anytime soon by EPDs.
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Opinion: EPDs Are One Small Step for Design Professionals, a Giant Leap for Industry
Op-Ed
Uptake of life-cycle assessment will produce huge amounts of data that designers can use to reduce whole-building impacts.
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Opinion: Orwellian EPDs Ignore the Worst Impacts of Wood, Vinyl
Op-Ed
Although life-cycle assessment has great promise, in the wrong hands it can be used for greenwashing.
