Life Cycle Assessment of structures for sustainability

No Thumbnail Available

Files

URL

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu | Bachelor's thesis
Electronic archive copy is available locally at the Harald Herlin Learning Centre. The staff of Aalto University has access to the electronic bachelor's theses by logging into Aaltodoc with their personal Aalto user ID. Read more about the availability of the bachelor's theses.
Unless otherwise stated, all rights belong to the author. You may download, display and print this publication for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.

Authors

Date

2024-11-29

Department

Major/Subject

Kone- ja rakennustekniikka

Mcode

ENG3043

Degree programme

Insinööritieteiden kandidaattiohjelma

Language

en

Pages

27

Series

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool for promoting sustainable development in the construction sector. Climate change is widely recognized as an urgent issue, and increasing carbon dioxide emissions highlight the importance of life cycle assessment in assessing and managing these impacts. The atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 420 ppm in 2024, and the construction sector is a significant contributor to this development. The use of LCA has grown rapidly since the 1960s, when a number of impact assessment methods were developed to promote a systematic assessment of environmental impacts throughout the life cycle. The goal of environmental sustainability in the built environment is to create sustainable buildings, whose development is supported by minimizing resource consumption and utilizing renewable energy sources to reduce harmful environmental impacts. This thesis explores how life cycle assessment (LCA) is applied within the built environment, structural engineering and construction. Furthermore, the use of software in LCA, such as BIM 3D, contribute to streamline the LCA process by facilitating the analysis of data related to the environmental impact assessment of buildings, reducing the workload associated with the LCA process and speeding up its implementation. LCA is widely used in all phases of con-struction, and its results demonstrate its value as a key tool that provides concrete solutions to promote sustainable development. Software usage in LCA is important in the LCA process, although it includes challenges and limitations, such as the lack of builtin design tools and automatic transfer of carbon footprint data to LCA software. Addressing these issues could enable the design of more environmentally friendly structures and support the construction of sustainable and longlasting buildings in accordance with green building standards.

Description

Supervisor

Vornanen-Winqvist, Camilla

Thesis advisor

Noureldin, Mohamed

Keywords

LCA software, LCA technique, LCA and environmental impact, LCA analysis

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202501281982

Collections

[kand] Insinööritieteiden korkeakoulu / ENG