Life-Cycle Assessment
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. Environmental impacts assessed include things like embodied carbon, smog-creation potential, and fossil fuel consumption.
For building professionals, LCA comes into play in two main ways. To understand the impacts of specific products, look to an environmental product declaration (EPD). To understand the impacts of an entire building, a whole-building LCA is required. Specialized tools are used to perform whole-building LCA.
Life-Cycle Assessment
Deep Dives
Get up to speed on complex topics. You can also earn CEUs and download PDF Spotlight Reports.
-
The Product Transparency Movement: Peeking Behind the Corporate Veil
Feature Article
Manufacturers are offering more product information than ever, but how can we know what to trust?
-
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.
-
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.
Quick Takes
Jump straight to the essentials with these short explanations of green building concepts.
- Check if your spelling is correct, or try removing filters.
- Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop.
- You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.
In The News
We break news down to the essentials and provide expert analysis.
-
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.
-
Cladding Industry Agrees to One Rulebook for Conducting LCAs
News Brief
One set of rules, called PCRs, now governs environmental reporting for all cladding products, regardless of whether they are wood, vinyl, or metal.
-
New Thinkstep Launchpad for Sustainability Apps Bolstered by LCA Data
News Analysis
Rebranded as thinkstep, the life-cycle assessment firm PE International promises a new platform to integrate product data and more.
-
Vinyl Roofing Membrane EPD Details Cradle-to-Grave Impacts
News Analysis
More trade groups are publishing industry-wide environmental product declarations to meet LEED v4 requirements.
Perspective
Thought-provoking opinions from the most trusted minds in sustainability.
- Check if your spelling is correct, or try removing filters.
- Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop.
- You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.
Learning Resources
A wide range of education options, with automatic reporting for AIA and GBCI.
- Check if your spelling is correct, or try removing filters.
- Remove quotes around phrases to match each word individually: "blue drop" will match less than blue drop.
- You can require or exclude terms using + and -: big +blue drop will require a match on blue while big blue -drop will exclude results that contain drop.
