Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment in the construction sector – actual application and future outlook

Institute of Sustainability in Civil Engineering, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

^* Corresponding author: jana.backes@inab.rwth-aachen.de

Abstract

The construction industry is responsible for positive and negative values in society, economy and environment. Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) as framework is considered to provide a valuable support to decision makers, by extending the scope of the known Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). At present, the number of published LCSA studies in the construction sector is comparatively small. To foster the partnership between LCSA and the construction sector, an understanding of backgrounds and options of LCSA application in this sector is necessary. A survey is conducted via an online questionnaire to ask the defined target groups (LCSA-experts, students, practitioners) about their use and interpretation of LCSA. The questionnaire results show that the implementation of all three pillars (LCA, LCC, S-LCA) and defining appropriate indicators is difficult even for LCSA-experts. 94% of today’s decision makers name especially the LCA as important and relevant for the construction sector. Nevertheless, it became clear that the LCAs already implemented in the practical construction sector were only implemented because of the request by the customer. Future decision maker (today’s students) ask for more seminars and lectures in LCSA and LCA and especially more practical and cross-thematic (interdisciplinary) exercises are questioned.