Energy optimization and environmental impact of an office building at Biskra City, Algeria: Life cycle assessment, applied to the building envelope in hot and dry climate

Abstract

This work assesses the environmental impact generated by an office building in arid region throughout its life cycle (cradle to grave), by means of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This study focuses on a comparison of different external wall systems that are conventionally used in building. With recycled materials and thermal insulation system, it’s possible to reduce demand of energy consumption, evaluate their environmental indicators impacts, and also reduce them, throughout the building life cycle. In doing so, this work can contribute not only to control energy, long-term economic growth, but also to address pressing social issues, and mainly environmental impacts. We use an environmental analysis with a thermal dynamic simulation, to test the hypothesis on a data base of hot and dry climate of Biskra city. The last part consists of a technical approach, indicating the economy is the use of ecological and recycled materials. The results of this study show that the exterior insulation system, obtained the best environmental scores, being 30% less than the interior insulation system and 50% less than the distributed insulation system. Also, recycled materials save energy in their manufacture, and building energy consumption for its use and have a reduced building impact on the environment throughout its life cycle (cradle to grave). This work shows how LCA application is not only feasible, but recommended because it is a decision support tool in the search for sustainability and make use of recycled materials.