Integrating life cycle and carbon assessments: What life cycle assessment can teach structural engineers about design and specification

Abstract

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the method which most fully accounts for the environmental impacts of structures. The method provides feedback for our engineering design and specification choices. Three case studies will demonstrate how LCA was used in different ways to answer different questions structural engineers had in the desire to reduce the environmental impacts of their projects. One uses Athena® EcoCalculator for an existing building while the other two studies employ LCA outside of currently available software models for new structures. © ASCE 2011.