LCA application in urban design

Author(s): B. Peuportier, E. Vorger and G. Herfray
Paper category: symposium
Book title: International Symposium on Life Cycle Assessment and Construction – Civil engineering and buildings
Editor(s): A. Ventura and C. de la Roche
Print ISBN: 978-2-35158-127-8
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-128-5
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Pages: 292 – 299
Total Pages: 8
Language: English

Abstract: A life cycle simulation tool has been developed to model urban settlements including various buildings, streets, green and other public spaces, and networks (drinking water, waste water, district heating...). This tool, developed in an object oriented approach, associates dynamic thermal simulation and building LCA, complemented with modules for open spaces and networks. A set of environmental indicators is evaluated, e.g. resource depletion, energy and water consumption, global warming, waste generation, toxicity. Several alternatives can be compared using graphs, constituting an urban design aid.
This communication presents a case study in order to illustrate a possible application of this tool. Several urban morphologies are compared: apartment buildings, single family houses, and Plus energy houses similar to the “solar city” in Freiburg. Each alternative is defined according to the same functional unit: providing dwelling for one inhabitant during 80 years, in the Greater Paris Area context and climatic conditions. The results are presented and perspectives are proposed to refine the model and complement it.

Online publication: 2012
Publication Type: full_text
Public price (Euros): 0.00