Case Studies

Abstract

Using analytical tools is a good first step to making better data-driven design decisions. The second, even more important, step in the process is interpreting and acting on the results. The results of the LCIA phase of an LCA study will rarely produce a clear “winning” design option that is obviously better than the others under consideration. A properly framed and conducted study does, however, provide a clearer picture of the environmental impacts associated with various design component. It is then up to the designer to weigh the pros and cons of each decision, guided by a clearly stated goal and scope of the study. This chapter will address both the ways in which each of the LCIA tools best function as well as how the results of the tools can be used to affect positive change in design decisions at the building component scale. The general workflow followed in the case studies here can be applied to many other design disciplines working at smaller and larger scales.

All of the LCIA tools are founded on the same scientific framework, introduced in Chap. 5; pull from overlapping data sources, presented in Chap. 7; and use the same LCIA method, described in Chap. 8. Even with the differences in methodologies used by each tool, which make studies completed in different programs not comparable, there is overall common agreement in the results of studies completed across multiple tools looking at the same set of design elements. In most cases each tool will lead a user to the same general conclusions regardless of what tool is being used.