Posts for LCA

Finally, the day has come that New Zealand has an accessible carbon data repository. One that Joe Blogs can search, without being a scientist and even without creating an account.

When a building is demolished and rebuilt, it results in what can be termed as ‘double emissions’. This is because two sets of construction materials are required – one for the original building and another for the new structure.

Michael Braungart and William McDonough called them “horrible hybrids” in their 2002 book “Crade to Cradle”. Things that are fused together from different materials that cannot be separated and thus not recycled.

There’s a Swedish article that has been often quoted over the months regarding the environmental impact of EV batteries. If you’re predisposed to hate electric cars, then there’s a wonderful story making the rounds that’ll support your worldview. However, let’s just look into some of…

Efficiency is very interesting concept. One can be very efficient in doing the wrong thing. That does not make the solution very effective.

Again and again I am astonished as to how long it takes for a great idea for a design until it becomes mainstream. It likewise amazes me how we design things on a daily basis, the things that are not the great inventions but just…

I am hearing a lot about great sustainable buildings, however in 99% of all cases the articles fail to deliver some hard fact, ie numbers. What is sustainable about them, what is their water use, energy use. What materials have they used? What great features were…

From EcoBob, 24/11/2009 Construction, maintenance and renovation of buildings account for around 40 per cent of the world’s material flows, so it’s always sad to see an old building reduced to a pile of rubble.

Most modern designs consider energy as the most important factor in the sustainability of buildings; however, it is not only the energy a building consumes that impacts on its overall sustainability. Materials form a very important factor when analyzing their embodied energy, reusability, recyclability, and…

The FAO Forestry Department promotes, among others, the responsible use of wood as an environmentally friendly raw material. In the last decades, wood and wood-based products have been faced with stronger competition from substitute materials, such as plastics, concrete, steel, glass or aluminium, as these…