Guidelines and calculation methods for Lifecycle Environmental Impact Assessment of Plus Energy Buildings

This document aims to collect and report the results of the activities ongoing within the EU-funded Cultural-E project (under grant agreement No. 870072). 
As a prior result of the Cultural-E activities, a document has been prepared, in which the guidelines and calculation methods for carrying out environmental impact assessment on Plus Energy Buildings (PEBs) are outlined. The document is targeted to building developers and provides the audience with an operative methodology for dealing with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), in compliance with standards ISO 14040 [1]. ISO 14044 [2]. For the compilation of the guidelines, core rules for the lifecycle modelling and impact calculation methods have been considered also specifications for buildings and building products, provided by EN 15804 [3], EN 15643 [4] and EN 15978 [5]. Task 4.5 of project Cultural-E demonstrated in fact the need for an adaptation and clear specification of LCA analyses for PEBs’ systems. This is mostly due to complexity of workflows and data to be handled as well as the novelty of the investigated systems. This document presents therefore to building developers a framework and, consequently, a procedure for LCA analyses of systems designed and developed forPlus Energy Buildings (PEBs).Such a procedure allows for a clear establishment of the LCA goal and scope. The PEBs systems are while evaluate through a bottom up approach, which, depending on the goal and scope of the analysis, extracts relevant information from specific outcome and finally proceed with the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) and environmental impacts assessment. For a correct results’ derivation, it is important to choose and agree on adequate lifecycle modelling tools and match the collected information with suitable environmental datasets
In addition to this, the report contains further outcomes coming from the abovementioned activities.The assessment of PEBs’ technologies (in this instance, Active Window System – AWS, NORDIC® ECO smart air movement, Packed Heat Pump – PHP and the High-capacity Hybrid Storage system – HCHS) is targeted to products developers. It serves as a reference for the evaluation of the environmental potential of such components and the identification of optimization potential.

The parametric LCA modelling of PEBs’ climate and cultural tailored solution sets is while addressed to building developers. It highlights advantages and challenges to be handled while designing PEBs in specific climate and cultural contexts. In this respect, it can be used within the project also as a reference for the next upcoming steps and especially for the lifecycle analyses of the designed demo cases.