Management and communication of HVAC-specific life cycle-related information - filling the gaps for sustainability assessment of buildings

Abstract

Assessing the contribution of buildings to sustainable development is no longer just a matter of scientific investigation. Increasingly, such considerations are becoming a prerequisite for the award of subsidies or the fulfillment of legal requirements. One aspect is the evaluation of the environmental performance, based on a life cycle assessment of the complete building in its life cycle. This requires corresponding data on all installed products (materials, components, systems) on a consistent methodological basis and suitable communication forms. To that, information is required on technical characteristics and the life cycle assessment results of construction products. Thereby the following problems are occurring: (1) there are not enough environmental product declarations according to EN 15804 A2 available in the field of building services systems (e.g. HVAC) and (2) the data contained in EPDs do not fully cover the information needs of designers and decision-makers. This complicates the work of involved actors and endangers the competitiveness of product suppliers. In response, a proposal for a product information system for building services is presented. It is adapted to the specifics of HVAC systems and the information needs of related actors. The background is the situation in Germany, but results can be transferred to other countries/markets.