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Life cycle assessment of the Leonard S. Klinck building

University of British Columbia. Sustainability Office

A life cycle assessment was performed on the Leonard S. Klinck building at the University of British Columbia. The scope of the study was limited to the structure and building envelope from cradle to gate, with the functional unit of per square feet of academic building. Software used in the analysis included OnCenter’s OnScreen TakeOff for performing building takeoffs, and the Athena Institute Impact Estimator for calculating the environmental effects. The bill of materials generated for LSK indicated that the largest amounts of material present were batt insulation, gypsum board, concrete, glazing, and polyethylene vapour barrier. The results of the sensitivity analysis revealed that of the aforementioned materials, only additions to the amount of concrete present in the building envelope had any appreciable effect on the end total summary measures. Results from the building performance analysis of LSK using a one-dimensional heat conduction model showed that the energy payback period (where the embodied energy associated with increased insulation materials offset any potential energy savings) for improving the current building envelope to the UBC Residential Environmental Assessment Program’s (REAP’s) minimum standards was less than one year. The materials altered in this building performance analysis were the insulation in the roof and exterior walls, and the replacement of standard glazing with a high reflectivity variant. Since only these assemblies were altered, the results of the building performance analysis were consistent with those of the sensitivity analysis where an increase in insulation and glazing had no statistical significance on the end environmental impacts. [Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”

Text

University of British Columbia. CIVL 498; UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) Student Report

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0077971

Applied Science, Faculty of; Civil Engineering, Department of

Unreviewed

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/