Whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) of mass timber systems: European vs North American mass timber vs steel
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Date
2019
Authors
O’Halloran, Simone
Kazeminejad, Yasmin
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon, Dept. of Architecture, Portland Program
Abstract
Whole Building Life Cycle Assessments (WBLCA) are helpful tools in the evaluation of the
environmental impacts of all of the components in a building. Inputs (like material extraction and manufacturing) and
outputs (such as carbon emissions) are measured over the entire life cycle of the building. The goal is to minimize the
negative impacts on the environment over the whole life cycle of the building. In this case we performed the WBLCA
for a mixed use building in San Francisco California utilizing the software Tally. We compared three different building
systems, North American mass timber, Austrian mass timber, and steel. The results from our comparative analysis
show that concrete is the majority of the global warming potential and embodied energy regardless of the
system. This paper supports and has shown the potential of Mass Timber material being used in building industries
to minimize environmental impact.
Description
45 pages
Keywords
WBLCA, mass timber, embodied energy, global warming potential