MS Theses
2019
A Comparative Analysis of LCA Tools: Studying the Façade of a Campus Lab Building
- Where: MS Thesis Archives | Spring Quarter | 2019
- Abstract
Through the advancement of sustainable design methods, life cycle assessment (LCA) is becoming a significant part of sustainable practices. To have reliable assessment results, however, the strengths and weaknesses of the assessment tools should be explored. This thesis studies life cycle assessment as a method to evaluate the environmental impacts of the buildings. The purpose of this study is to compare the analyses results of two LCA tools: the Revit-based Tally plugin and the Athena Impact Estimator (IE). The study explores a building façade system as the case study at three different scales: the primary materials, façade components, and the whole-building façade. Athena IE and Tally are applied to the case study to compare the user input framework, bill of materials, and outputs. While the development of BIM-based LCA tools helps designers, engineers, and contractors, this study finds that the tools are highly dependent on the data input methods to generate reliable LCA outcomes. It also suggests that in order to improve software interfaces, a wider consideration of LCA input methods is necessary. - Author: Laleh Amany
- Document: Link
- Related Project: BIM -> LCA