Environmental impacts of circularity in the built environment: How do system boundaries affect decision support?

Andersen, Sarah CecilieTeknologisk Institut,Danish Technological Institute,Syddansk Universitet,University of Southern Denmark (author)

Life-Cycle Assessments (LCA) have become a common tool of decision support in the built environment regarding environmental impacts. The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of different LCA approaches and system boundaries on decision support regarding circular design strategies. Three different ways of applying attributional LCA (ALCA) and one consequential LCA (CLCA) are assessed using a case study of a wooden beam with either virgin or reclaimed timber. While the conclusions are not readily scalable, the case study's results indicate that using reclaimed material is environmentally beneficial when applying ALCA. However, when applying CLCA the reclaimed material performs worse than the virgin material. This highlights the potential pitfalls of scaling up solutions based on LCA results without considering the broader consequences. While the current ALCA approach is useful for declarations, it may not provide comprehensive decision support for driving a transition in the built environment.

Hollberg, Alexander,1985Chalmers tekniska högskola,Chalmers University of Technology(Swepub:cth)hollberg (author)
Browne, XanKunstakademiets Arkitektskole,The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (author)
Wallbaum, Holger,1967Chalmers tekniska högskola,Chalmers University of Technology(Swepub:cth)wallbaum (author)
Birgisdottír, H.Aalborg Universitet,Aalborg University (author)
Larsen, Olga PopovicKunstakademiets Arkitektskole,The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture (author)
Birkved, MortenSyddansk Universitet,University of Southern Denmark (author)
Teknologisk InstitutSyddansk Universitet (creator_code:org_t)

By the author/editor: Andersen, Sarah ...; Hollberg, Alexan ...; Browne, Xan; Wallbaum, Holger ...; Birgisdottír, H.; Larsen, Olga Pop ...; show more...; Birkved, Morten; show less...

About the subject

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: ENGINEERING AND ...; and Environmental En ...; and Other Environmen ...

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: ENGINEERING AND ...; and Environmental En ...; and Environmental Ma ...

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY: ENGINEERING AND ...; and Civil Engineerin ...; and Environmental An ...

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Earth and Relate ...; and Environmental Sc ...

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