Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment

Several codes, standards and building rating systems now require or encourage the development of a whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) for new building designs. This session will investigate how these assessments are achieved, including identification of some of the potential pitfalls in the process. Included in the discussion will be the definitions of life cycle assessment (LCA) and WBLCA, sources of data, the relationship between LCAs and environmental product declarations (EPD), as well as commercially available software to conduct WBLCAs.

This in-depth webinar is sponsored by the Steel Joist Institute (SJI) and participation will earn you 1.5 PDHs.

Learning Objectives:

• Define LCA and identify the differences between LCA and WBLCA
• Explain the differences between LCAs and EPDs
• Identify the advantages of steel frame construction from a life cycle assessment perspective
• Identify the important issues to consider when comparing WBLCA results using different software programs