Streamlined Environmental Lifecycle Assessment: An Approach for Evaluating theEnvironmental Performance of Building Materials

摘要

The report presents the approach that was developed to prepare reports onbuilding materials for the Environmental Resource Guide (ERG), both technical materials reports and applications reports. It also: (1) presents data collection tools that could be used to replicate materials research conducted for the ERG project or to gather and analyze information on additional materials; (2) presents an overview of life-cycle assessment (LCA) concepts; (3) establishes a framework for the approach; (4) discusses the adaptation of LCA concepts for building materials studies; (5) presents the research approach developed for the ERG, including the overall approach to the inventory, impact, and interpretation or improvement stages; (6) describes some of the lessons learned from applying the approach in conducting research for the ERG; and (7) presents worksheets and procedures for replicating the ERG approach.