Ever since the late sixties of the previous century, tools have been developed to be able to quantitatively assess the environmental impacts of products and processes. These tools are based on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. The original tools were developed to assess production strategies and consumer goods, but now they are being used to assess buildings. However, several problems arise because of the different characteristics of consumer goods and buildings. In the first part of this paper, the problems that arise are being presented. First, deficiencies in current knowledge on the environment and their implications for an LCA of buildings are described. Second, deficiencies in the building model are discussed. The building model describes the processes and products in the building life cycle that should be taken into account in the environmental assessment. Third, the practical bottlenecks in performing an environmental assessment of buildings are dealt with. In the second part of the paper, the direction for further research is outlined. Based on calculations which were performed to be able to quickly assess assumptions about the characteristics of the environmental impact of dwellings several possible topics for further research are presented.@en

In comparison to goods to which LCA is conventionally applied, buildings have a very long service life. During this service life, the building and its equipment are subject to maintenance and to renovations. Very little is known about the environmental effects of maintenance and renovation. Maintenance firms and housing associations that are interested in the sustainability aspects of maintenance have too little environmental information on their own activities. This is because environmental profiles of materials that are accessible from LCA databases are not suitable for direct use by maintenance firms, because this data are not related to the activities that are really performed by these companies. EPDs at material level could be a solution for maintenance companies, but nor for housing associations that want to label the environmental quality of the maintenance. This is because housing associations (and therefore their maintenance contractors) are interested in the environmental quality of the maintenance of, for instance, window frames but not in the environmental quality of one kilogram paint. EPDs at activity level could offer a possible solution to this problem. The research described in this paper aims to define at which level EPDs are needed and which technical information is necessary to produce EPDs that can support sustainable maintenance options. This paper focuses on the maintenance aspects of openings in facades (windows) in dwellings located in The Netherlands. Owner occupied houses are not taken into account because in most cases owners do not use standardized maintenance by specialized companies. They are do-it-yourselfer from which information is difficult to gather. Housing associations use maintenance contractors in an organized way, which simplifies the gathering of information. Besides, housing associations cover about 35 % of the total housing stock in the Netherlands and should be therefore a main target of environmental building policies.@en

Buildings are responsible for a relatively large contribution to environmental problems. Possibly, improving the use and management of buildings may lead to a reduction of the annual environmental burden caused in a region. One aspect of the use and management of buildings consists of the technical management of exterior building components. In this paper, a quantitative environmental assessment method for this aspect of the use of buildings is developed. In environmental assessments, several approaches and indicators of environmental sustainability can be used. The three basic approaches to quantitative environmental sustainability are the material, energy and substance approaches. This research adopts the substance approach as adopted by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology .Each of the three approaches leads to the use of a specific kind of indicator for environmental sustainability. In LCA, usually either a set of midpoint or a set of endpoint indicators are used. In this research, the midpoint indicator set as described by CML is adopted. The developed environmental assessment method is meant to compare alternatives for the technical management of a specific building, in order to provide insight to the environmental consequences of decisions regarding technical management. The basis of comparison is an activity scenario of a certain duration, in which the local climate and human factors such as occupant behaviour and the quality of work performed are left out of consideration. Variables in the scenarios are the activities included, time intervals between consecutive activities, transport and waste produced. It is not sufficient to merely assess technical management activities, but also the effect they have on the service life of building components and, ultimately, the service life of the building itself. The aim of the assessment is not to accurately determine the environmental effects caused by a building, but to assess the environmental consequences of decisions that alter the building life cycle.@en

Little is known about the environmental consequences of using a building and managing its technical performances. This paper presents a theoretical framework for research on the environmental impacts of the use phase in the building life cycle. Four actors in the use phase are considered. First, the designer of the building who influences the amount and kind of management needed and, to a lesser extent, the behaviour of the occupant. Second, the builder that delivers work of a certain quality. Third, the owner of the building who decides on actual management activities. Fourth, the occupant of the building who is responsible for the amount of resources consumed and, to a lesser extent, the need for certain management activities. The research aims to provide tools for the owner and user of a building which enable them to make decisions that are better for the environment. Also, it aims to provide a tool for the building designer in his role of developer of the building and its management requirements.@en