Towards integration of LCA and LCC as a driver for decision-making by municipalities for sustainable renovation of existing buildings
Abstract
Today, sustainable renovation of buildings is taking place all over Europe in so many ways. Renovation is categorized among the cheapest solutions to fight climate change, which increases cities’ resilience to climate change, creates economic opportunities, improves indoor comfort, health and productivity, and plays a substantial role in reducing global energy-related CO2 emissions. AEC industry is struggling to keep up with stricter sustainability regulations in this area and is being criticized for loss of oversight and strategic planning of its environmental and economic impacts integration. Development of methods for addressing sustainability such as Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and their applications by project stakeholders (e.g., designers, engineers, local authorities, etc.) have proven to be very effective. By using LCA and LCC during the early and late design stages, local authorities can assist design teams in making informed decisions concerning the economic (refers to LCC analysis) and environmental impacts (refers to LCA analysis), addressing the trade-offs between the design choices. However, the entire process of conducting LCC and LCA analysis is still deemed time-intensive, which often reduces their real potential. It prohibits the project stakeholders from exploiting them (particularly) during the early design stages (i.e., competition stages due to lack of enough data and limited time). The decisions made have a critical impact on the final design solutions and product. In this light, the aim of this paper is to review the characteristics of LCA and LCC with a focus on integrating them as a driver for decision-making by the municipalities for the sustainable renovation of existing buildings. The paper presents the results of an intensive literature review and a focus group study. The contribution is performed as a part larger project, RECONCILE, and in collaboration with Lund University and Aarhus Municipality.
