The paper present a research about Life Cycle Assessment as a design approach for refurbishment of building. As a case study was used a 1970 school. The choice of a 1970s building is due to the exemplar case that it represents. A large part of the buildings built in Italy during the housing boost on the 1960s and 1970s are still a big presence in the built environment, and their energy performance is generally very poor. In our experience, running LCA assessments on the subject, energy is by far the most important factor when considering environmental impact of a building. Therefore, the first part of the study has been about an energy refurbishment of the building itself – envelope and mechanical systems. Measures have been proposed for the roof, ground floor slab, external wall and openings, and a new more efficient heating system has been considered. Once the refurbishment project had been done, and the thermal performance of every part of the envelope had been set – transmittance mainly – it has been proceeded to an LCA assessment on alternatives for the external wall (using the software SimaPro). Overall, thirty alternatives have been considered, determined by three technological systems, two different types of brick, and five types of insulation. All the alternatives have been set with same transmittance values. LCA Inventory Data have been taken from local producers. Together with the analysis of the external wall, the study involves a 75-year time span: 55 years from the original construction to the proposed refurbishment (1970-2005) and 20 years after the refurbishment (2005-2025). This has been done in order to take into account the energy performance before and after the refurbishment, analysing the impact with a further LCA assessment. Besides the general aim of reducing the environmental impact with a choice determined with the LCA methodology, the scope of this work was demonstrating how this methodology can assist the architect in making design decision that are both sensible and environmental-friendly. We believe that more research on the methodology, structured data from the producers and environmental certifications of products based on LCA will allow in the future to apply these principles more smoothly and on a day-to-day basis in the architectural practice.

Energy Refurbishment and LCA assessment of a 1970s typical Italian school

PERON, FABIO
2011-01-01

Abstract

The paper present a research about Life Cycle Assessment as a design approach for refurbishment of building. As a case study was used a 1970 school. The choice of a 1970s building is due to the exemplar case that it represents. A large part of the buildings built in Italy during the housing boost on the 1960s and 1970s are still a big presence in the built environment, and their energy performance is generally very poor. In our experience, running LCA assessments on the subject, energy is by far the most important factor when considering environmental impact of a building. Therefore, the first part of the study has been about an energy refurbishment of the building itself – envelope and mechanical systems. Measures have been proposed for the roof, ground floor slab, external wall and openings, and a new more efficient heating system has been considered. Once the refurbishment project had been done, and the thermal performance of every part of the envelope had been set – transmittance mainly – it has been proceeded to an LCA assessment on alternatives for the external wall (using the software SimaPro). Overall, thirty alternatives have been considered, determined by three technological systems, two different types of brick, and five types of insulation. All the alternatives have been set with same transmittance values. LCA Inventory Data have been taken from local producers. Together with the analysis of the external wall, the study involves a 75-year time span: 55 years from the original construction to the proposed refurbishment (1970-2005) and 20 years after the refurbishment (2005-2025). This has been done in order to take into account the energy performance before and after the refurbishment, analysing the impact with a further LCA assessment. Besides the general aim of reducing the environmental impact with a choice determined with the LCA methodology, the scope of this work was demonstrating how this methodology can assist the architect in making design decision that are both sensible and environmental-friendly. We believe that more research on the methodology, structured data from the producers and environmental certifications of products based on LCA will allow in the future to apply these principles more smoothly and on a day-to-day basis in the architectural practice.
2011
9789602436790
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11578/53691
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