2 Summary of the Session’s Presentations
2.1 Building Information Modelling Applications
Impacts embodied in the building components (materials, etc.) have a more and
more important role in buildings, considering the transition process from traditional
buildings to energy-efficient buildings. In order to trace these embodied impacts
efficiently, tools like BIM help in keeping track of inventory data for building
construction elements, as well as technical installations, such as ventilation systems.
This was the subject of the first presentation, “Life Cycle Assessment of a
Ventilation System in and Office Building in Trondheim”, by Alexander Borg.
In this study, a BIM model was used to find inventory data on a ventilation
system. A supplied dataset was used to create the inventory for the embodied
impacts in the building components, and energy simulations allowed the calculation
of the energy demand throughout the use phase of the building. A dynamic
methodology was applied to better encompass the long lifetime of buildings. The
results showed that energy use accounts for the majority of the impacts for most
impact categories, but embodied impacts have a larger share of emissions than
previously shown in literature, although total impacts coincide with literature data.
From the presented study emerges how BIM-LCA integration needs a collaborative process and data sharing. In order to benefit from BIM not only in the
advanced stages of a project, but also in its early stages, there is a need for a
simplified, design-integrated method based on early BIM models with limited
information. The presentation of Alexander Hollberg (“Design-integrated LCA
using early BIM”) dealt with the potential of BIM technology to facilitate the
application of LCA in the early design stage of a building. Early design stages are in
fact very important for building’s environmental impacts mitigation. Building’s
life-cycle impact can be significantly reduced by choosing materials with low
embodied impacts at early design stages [12, 13]. However, the number and
complexity of the decisions to be taken in this phase and typically the lack of
knowledge on which decisions have the highest impacts on a building’s environmental performance, often lead designers to postpone decisions to later stages of the
design process. A high potential to facilitate this early stage decision process is seen
in the use of BIM [14–16]. However, while BIM is more and more applied in
detailed design stages, simple 3D models are typically used to compare design
variants in early stages. A simplified, design-integrated method based on these early
BIM models with limited information was thus introduced, which uses simple 3D
geometry and a parametric LCA model. The method was applied to the conception
design of a residential neighbourhood.
The integration between BIM and LCA should in any case hinge upon a mutual
transfer of information: BIM data in the LCA framework and LCA results back into
the BIM database. However, this full integration poses interoperability issues. The
presentation by Adélaïde Mailhac (“A proposition to extend CityGML and ADE
Energy standards for exchanging information for LCA simulation at urban
LCM at the Urban Scale: BIM and Nature Based Solutions
263
2.1 Building Information Modelling Applications
Impacts embodied in the building components (materials, etc.) have a more and
more important role in buildings, considering the transition process from traditional
buildings to energy-efficient buildings. In order to trace these embodied impacts
efficiently, tools like BIM help in keeping track of inventory data for building
construction elements, as well as technical installations, such as ventilation systems.
This was the subject of the first presentation, “Life Cycle Assessment of a
Ventilation System in and Office Building in Trondheim”, by Alexander Borg.
In this study, a BIM model was used to find inventory data on a ventilation
system. A supplied dataset was used to create the inventory for the embodied
impacts in the building components, and energy simulations allowed the calculation
of the energy demand throughout the use phase of the building. A dynamic
methodology was applied to better encompass the long lifetime of buildings. The
results showed that energy use accounts for the majority of the impacts for most
impact categories, but embodied impacts have a larger share of emissions than
previously shown in literature, although total impacts coincide with literature data.
From the presented study emerges how BIM-LCA integration needs a collaborative process and data sharing. In order to benefit from BIM not only in the
advanced stages of a project, but also in its early stages, there is a need for a
simplified, design-integrated method based on early BIM models with limited
information. The presentation of Alexander Hollberg (“Design-integrated LCA
using early BIM”) dealt with the potential of BIM technology to facilitate the
application of LCA in the early design stage of a building. Early design stages are in
fact very important for building’s environmental impacts mitigation. Building’s
life-cycle impact can be significantly reduced by choosing materials with low
embodied impacts at early design stages [12, 13]. However, the number and
complexity of the decisions to be taken in this phase and typically the lack of
knowledge on which decisions have the highest impacts on a building’s environmental performance, often lead designers to postpone decisions to later stages of the
design process. A high potential to facilitate this early stage decision process is seen
in the use of BIM [14–16]. However, while BIM is more and more applied in
detailed design stages, simple 3D models are typically used to compare design
variants in early stages. A simplified, design-integrated method based on these early
BIM models with limited information was thus introduced, which uses simple 3D
geometry and a parametric LCA model. The method was applied to the conception
design of a residential neighbourhood.
The integration between BIM and LCA should in any case hinge upon a mutual
transfer of information: BIM data in the LCA framework and LCA results back into
the BIM database. However, this full integration poses interoperability issues. The
presentation by Adélaïde Mailhac (“A proposition to extend CityGML and ADE
Energy standards for exchanging information for LCA simulation at urban
LCM at the Urban Scale: BIM and Nature Based Solutions
263