Evaluation of the environmental performance of buildings using dynamic life cycle simulation

A building life cycle simulation tool has been developed and linked to thermal simulation, allowing energy use and other environmental impacts to be evaluated. Existing building LCA tools are based upon a static method, considering yearly average processes and impacts. A dynamic method has been developed here in order to model the time variation of electricity production and allocate environmental impacts to different uses. Results on a case study show an increase of environmental impacts up to 40% compared to the common static method. As a perspective, consequential LCA would be relevant to evaluate environmental consequences of technologies like electrical heating or heat pumps.