- E.G. QN THE BUILDING MARKET

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1 DESCRIPTION OF A DATABASE APPLICATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE EVA LUA TlON IMPLEMENTED IN EXlSTlNG IT-PRODUCTS - E.G. QN THE BUILDING MARKET Martin Erlandsson IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, P.0: , SE Stockholm, Sweden 1 A bstract If environmental considerations for buildings and constructions are to be made in a process of life cycle design, these considerations will have to be integrated in existing applications. For this reason, the database module Eco-GuideCalc, which enables the handling of environmental performance issues, is designed to be used with a number of existing softwares. Furthermore, the knowledge-based system integrated in the Eco-GuideCalc module will automatically give an input to LCA methodology choices. A novice can then perform the LCA more sutficiently. 7 WHA T IS AN ASSESSMENT OF A BUILDING 1 An environmental assessment of a building can be made at four levels as described in table 1 below: Table 1 Four different levels to assess a building and target for the application Assessment level: Environmental Focus: strateg ies: Building component Building structure Building as a Re-design Re-design Function E.g. reduction of materials usage and selection of low impact materials E.g. reducing impact during use, improved building technique and short-term performance. To find innovative approaches depending on system improvement functions from an existing system concept in a long- term performance. Building as a 1 Sustainable 1 To find long-term performance innovative service technology approaches depending on underlying needs defined development by the users. The solutions often require new technology, changed infrastructure and changed personal behaviour. Ref. 2"' column [Kalistvaart and Horst 971 Development status: lncluded in the application / The development of environmental tools for re-design and functional improvement is possible today. Those aspects are also included in the application described in this paper. A tool for sustainable development should include environmental aspects as well as economical and social aspects. No operational methodology has yet been established that can be used for quantitative calculations including al1 three aspects associated with the term sustainable development. Hence life cycle assessment (LCA) can be improved, and different assessment systems can be added. A tool for sustainable development can be partly based on a development of LCA assessment methods and combined with other tools. This combination is also the aim of the development of the application in point FOUNDATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR BUILDINGS 1 In brief, until today two distinguished types of environmental management system tools applicable for buildings are utilised. On one side there are a number of criteria-list based systems, such as BREAM and similar national concepts, that are frequently used since they are; easy to use, give direct and communicative results and often require little environmental knowledge. However, these systems give very rough results. On the other side there are numeric-based tools like LCA, RA, LCM etc, that have a scientific approach and flexible structure to handle object-related questions, and give more precise results. If numerical tools would be used as the scientific basis for environmental management systems, but made easier to use by implementation in an application with a user-friendly structure and facilities that generate communicative results, criteria-list based system would be less needed.

2 Essential disadvantages for numerical tools like LCA in general as we!l as for specific building applications are listed below; - The assessment requires an enormous amount of environmental data as well as building-related data (e.g. material list and properties) for the actual building object. - There is no general applicable LCA-methodology available for buildings. - The environmental assessment results are often given in a confusing way. - The most LCA applications like simapro, TEAM, LCAiT, EcoLab etc are applicable for experts only. - The environmental applications are separate products, which can not be integrated in already existing applications. - The methodological background and valuations made in the application are usually not described anywhere. In case they are described, they are not integrated in the very same application, which delivers the result report. This means that transparency is lost. I Figure 1 The application needs different parts to get rolling These disadvantages can be regarded as a task list for improvements and problems that have to be taken care of in a design step for an assessment application. The critical points for a successful scientific-based environmental assessment tool are here divided into three groups: Background platform: There is a need for input data utilised in a flexible methodology structure. The choice of methodology depends on the actual goals and therefore varies from case to case. Database structure: A database application integrated in an already existing application or an application that communicates with existing database applications. Output result: Requirement of a communicative iterative judgement basis and presentation interface, including explanations, simulation facilities, benchmarking, hot spot identification and an "assessment background quality report" focusing on adequate methodological and data input limitations. Ail three critical parts must fit into each other like a puzzle to get the full view of the picture, illustrated in figure 1. The system as a whole is not better than its weakest parts. Therefore, it is for instance no idea to put in efforts to find very high quality inventory data, if the impact assessment step is very poor or if the data is not assessable at al1 and therefore not communicable. The design strategy used in the application design process described here was therefore focused on how to find a balance between good quality data input in the first step and what then can be assessed and communicated on the output side. The application is then just regarded as a link to underlying generic knowledge incorporated in the database and to the environmental background data needed to answer the end user's specific question. A description of the database, divided in the critical parts mentioned above, is given in the text below. 3. BACKGROUND PLA TFORM 1 This part of the system includes a number of issues that today are working fields for different environmental specialists. The end users and the environmental specialists are speaking different "languages". Since the question often is set up as a goal by the end user and the specialist will give the answer it is necessary that they reach each other. However since the topic in this application is to replace the need for the specialist a KBS (knowledge based system) will guide the commissioner in an iterative dialog. The choices made in the KBS will always be possible to reform. These changes will also be saved in a special historical file (in accordance to ISO 14041). Since generic knowledge regarding assessment of buildings could not be found in literature, this methodology is developed specifically for the application. In practice this means that a number of facts will change depending on the goal definition specified in the actual study, such as; - Time horizon and life cycle stages included - System expansion

3 - Margin or average technology - System boundary settings - Allocation procedures - Time dependant aspects included or not - Selection of impact assessment procedure - Site specific assessment included or not (LCSEA, life cycle stressor-effect assessment) - Other limitations set by the commissioner as well as by limitations determined by lack of input data. The KBS system is structured around a very flexible LCA-methodology. One of the advantages, compared to a traditional LCA, is that the database structure allows a site-specific assessment. In traditional life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) there is no difference between different recipients, for instance in their capacity to resist acid rain. This kind of assessment systems will hopefully be applicable in a near future [Rhodes 97; Lindfors et al 97, 98; Wenzel 96; Erlandsson 99a). XIA ~lt. XIA LCEA

4 - environmental life cycle assessment via Eco-GuideCalc - the life cycle cost to construct, for maintenance etc until the final fate of the building or construction - the unit times and the project time for the actual object and - required maintenance via service life prediction data. Furthermore this kind of cost account application can be used during the constructionslbuildings' entire lifetime. Consequently, by integrating the Eco-GuideCalc database with a cost account application, it is possible to extend the use by customising an objecffbuilding~related tool. With this kind of application it is for instance possible to make new calculations or utilise the possible to establish an environmental "log bookn. In the operation phase this kind of applications can then be used as a real estate management tool.... Own data base Constmction cost account application (Cl< ao"h.r'. IW<i>i, i Environmental. Client solutions data lb..*rr --nt spms),... Figure 3 Schematic illustration of different parts and communication links operating with the "Eco- GuideCalcJ'plug in database. l A third type of commercial applications called "Own application" is illustrated in figure 3". These applications are customised for different groups of clients such as producers, branch institutes, NGOs, consultants, purchasers, local government etc. COUTPUT RESULT This part of the Eco-GuideCalc database contains a number of possibilities. The final interfaces are found in the three types of commercial applications (illustrated in figure 3) and are therefore not discussed here. Nevertheless some important possibilities for a successful communicative interface are found in the database structure. Such a methodical approach and data utilised in Eco- GuideBuilding are specified below: - Environmental data can be grouped into; a free number of categories, a standard to structure constructions elements like BSAB or similar, where in the life cycle the impact appears, which materials, activities etc that contribute to an impact (hot spot identification). - Lexicons regarding general environmental knowledge and related to the building sector respectively. - Possibility for subscription of input data and possible to have a "commissioner controlled" domain. - A smooth simulation facility, which is experienced by the end-user as if it was an object database (e.g. TEAM, KCL-Eco and Excel). - The database structure allows input of LCI data (for the moment only based on the SPlNE XFR format). - The impact assessment is divided into two groups of impact categories [de Haes et al partly inspired by the Twin method [Haas namely impact categories with general consensus and impact categories that should be used with caution. - The impact assessment is entirely following the steps given in ISO An additional possibility is to introduce an assessment of more site-specific environmental effects (LCSEA) instead of only impact assessment as given above. - The database structure allows different allocation procedures for LCI data (default is always a physical re!ation). - Data documentation, classification together with an assessment background quality report focusing on adequate methodological and data input limitations will realise the scientific foundations. Altogether, the opportunities described above might seem to imply that Eco-GuideCalc is a specialised application only applicable for the expert. But the fact is the contrary. This is possible since the application has a knowledge-based system which ask the end user leading questions - in a language that makes sense - which indirectly will lead to a specific choice of methodology.

5 6. CONCLUSION Compared to widely spread LCA applications (both "eco-lights" and LCA expert tools) the Eco- GuideCalc and its applications contain more facilities to help the novice end user to generate high quality LCA case studies. The Eco-GuideCalc database structure is already designed for a number of possible improvements based on innovative LCA-methodology. This improved technology is not available even in LCA tools designed for experts. Traditional LCA has on the other hand more facilities and is flexible regarding the way inventory data can be structured and linked together. However, this part of the work is not interesting for the non-specialised LCA practitioner to carry out and, more importantly, it is not cost effective either. This kind of work is best performed by the involved industry with the support from environmental institutes or consultancies. These practitioners will still have need for traditional LCA expert software in their work to collect LCI data. It would be a healthy development in the society if environmental considerations are based on high quality assessments. In order for this environmental tool to be widely spread, the focus must be to find a link between the specific question put forward by the end userlcommissioner and an LCA tool. The questions can be specified by anyone. By the development of the Eco-GuideCalc database, including the KBS and its applications, the LCA work can be focused on how to get something useful of the input data. This means that the same person that put forward the question, that is to Say anyone, can also answer it - if the application is there. 7. REFERENCES Erlandsson Allocation procedure for LCA based on socio-economical and natural relations. IVL 99b Swedish Environmental Research Institute, 6-report No 1344, October Erlandsson Methodology description for background data in Eco-GuideCa-Eco-Guide CDC, etal _spc Haas 98 Stockholm, February The Twin-model, an environmental calculation method as performance concept. Dutch Institute of Building Biology and Ecology (NIBE), the Netherlands, de Haes et Best available practice regarding impact cafegories and cafegory indicators in LCA. - al 99 SETAC (WIA-2), Brussels, February Kalrstvaart Eco -- Design Innovation: - breaking the barriers. TNO Institute of Industrial Technology. &-- Horst 97 Delft, L~nd-rs-eJ A tentative mefhodology for calculation of global and regional impact indrcators in type al ecolabels used in Swedish case studies. IVL, Stockholm, unpublished Lindfors et A manual for calculation of Ecoprofiles intended for Third patty certified environmental al 98 product performance declarations. IVL report BI 303, Stockholm, August Rhodes et al 97 LCA stressor-effects assessrnent (LCSEA): A frarnework for integrating life cycle assessment impact assessrnent with environmental assessrnent techniques. WD 1 prepared for distribution to ISO TC207lSCV3/TG3, march Steen et al 95 SPINE - A relation database structure for life cycle assessment. IVL-report , Goteborg, September Wenzel et Miljovurdering af produkter. DTU och Miljostyrelsen, Kopenhamn, Februari al 96