Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol
Due to our increasing dependence on resources and energy, climate change is among the most tangible issues we are facing today. The construction industry has been identified as a key sector to intervene in, but mitigation strategies must focus on more than just operational energy. As current climate...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Buildings |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/13/5/1315 |
| _version_ | 1797600788530331648 |
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| author | Nicole Di Santo Leidy Guante Henriquez Giovanni Dotelli Marco Imperadori |
| author_facet | Nicole Di Santo Leidy Guante Henriquez Giovanni Dotelli Marco Imperadori |
| author_sort | Nicole Di Santo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Due to our increasing dependence on resources and energy, climate change is among the most tangible issues we are facing today. The construction industry has been identified as a key sector to intervene in, but mitigation strategies must focus on more than just operational energy. As current climate policies recommend, designers should consider the broader framework of environmental impacts characterizing the entire building lifecycle. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) considers the mentioned aspects. Nevertheless, the complexity of LCA and the criticalities of related tools prevent the application of the approach during decisive early stages. Additionally, LCA allows the estimation of environmental issues, but fails to describe other dimensions of sustainability. The article proposes an evaluation method to support decision-making during the design of sustainable buildings. The method exploits the LCA tool and the assessment framework provided by a Green Sustainable Building Certification (Active House) integrated with BIM. The approach was applied and proven through a case study: a residential single-family building in northern Italy, comparing two technological options. The study confirmed the effectiveness of the multicriteria evaluation framework that, from the early design stage, can be used to measure the environmental impact of buildings alongside implications for the final users’ comfort. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:52:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92518b094671469f9c22b023313f4d02 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-5309 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:52:52Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Buildings |
| spelling | doaj.art-92518b094671469f9c22b023313f4d022023-11-18T00:46:32ZengMDPI AGBuildings2075-53092023-05-01135131510.3390/buildings13051315Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House ProtocolNicole Di Santo0Leidy Guante Henriquez1Giovanni Dotelli2Marco Imperadori3Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Chemistry, Materials, and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyDepartment of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering (DABC), Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milan, ItalyDue to our increasing dependence on resources and energy, climate change is among the most tangible issues we are facing today. The construction industry has been identified as a key sector to intervene in, but mitigation strategies must focus on more than just operational energy. As current climate policies recommend, designers should consider the broader framework of environmental impacts characterizing the entire building lifecycle. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) considers the mentioned aspects. Nevertheless, the complexity of LCA and the criticalities of related tools prevent the application of the approach during decisive early stages. Additionally, LCA allows the estimation of environmental issues, but fails to describe other dimensions of sustainability. The article proposes an evaluation method to support decision-making during the design of sustainable buildings. The method exploits the LCA tool and the assessment framework provided by a Green Sustainable Building Certification (Active House) integrated with BIM. The approach was applied and proven through a case study: a residential single-family building in northern Italy, comparing two technological options. The study confirmed the effectiveness of the multicriteria evaluation framework that, from the early design stage, can be used to measure the environmental impact of buildings alongside implications for the final users’ comfort.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/13/5/1315Life Cycle Assessmentsustainabilityenergyenvironmentcomfortgreen building certification |
| spellingShingle | Nicole Di Santo Leidy Guante Henriquez Giovanni Dotelli Marco Imperadori Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol Buildings Life Cycle Assessment sustainability energy environment comfort green building certification |
| title | Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol |
| title_full | Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol |
| title_fullStr | Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol |
| title_short | Holistic Approach for Assessing Buildings’ Environmental Impact and User Comfort from Early Design: A Method Combining Life Cycle Assessment, BIM, and Active House Protocol |
| title_sort | holistic approach for assessing buildings environmental impact and user comfort from early design a method combining life cycle assessment bim and active house protocol |
| topic | Life Cycle Assessment sustainability energy environment comfort green building certification |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/13/5/1315 |
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