A life cycle approach to buildings

A building\’s entire life cycle – from construction through occupation, cycles of renovation and repairs, up to demolition and disposal, impacts the flow of materials thereby created.
The decisive path of a building\’s environmental impact is however usually set early in the planning phase, at a time when planners often still lack knowledge about the sustainability characteristics of different building materials and constructions.

At the same time, the efficient handling of existing resources is decisive in sustainable construction and an intelligent selection of materials can yield unforeseen possibilities for exploiting hitherto neglected potential and for meeting the increasing demands in this area.

This book is designed to provide planners with the facts and arguments they need, but may often lack, to evaluate designs, materials and buildings.

• Environmental life cycle assessments of materials, construction elements and buildings
• Calculates and optimises life cycle costs
• Reference projects: life cycle analysis in practice
• Planning tools, databases and tips on calculations