The LCA and LEED-Rating System
Building green is more than skin deep.
In my post on styrofoam building blocks, I made a reference to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or otherwise known as “cradle-to-grave” analysis.
So this recent GreenSource article caught my attention, which discusses the benefits of LCA and suggests that it be considered in the LEED rating system.
According to the author, the LEED rating system has brought green building to the mainstream, and LCA would bring even more transparency to the LEED rating process.
The main benefit of LCA is its rigorous approach in considering over-looked phases such as building operation and material manufacturing that contribute to environmental impact.
The USGBC (which administers the LEED-rating program) is currently using LCA to inform its project rating system without direct implementation, which is a step in the right direction.
Bringing more transparency and clarity to the rating process would improve information symmetry, a term used by economists to describe the state where both buyers and sellers in a marketplace have equal information about their product.
Information symmetry would be useful between vendors and suppliers, where both parties are aware of product impact and the monetary costs of those impacts.
However, LCA still has a way to go before being a widely-accept form of impact analysis. The assumptions of factors to include and how they are calculated depend on who is performing the analysis. In addition, the most widely-used analysis software, Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings, is still basic in nature and only considers major building materials. As a result, LCA currently suffers from lack of conformity and product data.
In conclusion, LCA is still far from being implemented in LEED-ratings. But as the products considered by LCA grows, it may bring LCA more attention and likelihood of use in the LEED-rating system.
