LCA Analysis Through a Visual Programming Tool: Workflow on a BIM Model Case Study

Abstract

BIM tools also allow to conduct various impact analysis and, with regard to the growing concern about environmental issues, they embody a valuable mean to analyse buildings process consequences thus guiding designers towards better and more aware choices.The capacity of BIM applications to evaluate environmental issues would be enhanced if integrated with Life- Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools considered among the most suitable methods for evaluating such impacts. However, a typical barrier in performing LCA during the early design stages, i.e. the moment that influence the most the project outputs, is the lack of project information. Usually, this implies LCA to be performed after the design phase, when all the significant decisions are already taken.The implementation of LCA within the early stages of the design process, possibly through an automated method, can enhance the control of environmental variables hence, the integration of BIM and LCA, appears to be a suitable opportunity.The parametric approach allows BIM-based software to collect data and connect them with model elements. In order to avoid manual compilation of complex records, Visual Programming tools can cooperate with the authoring BIM software and interrelate the model with external sources such as materials environmental impact databases. Moreover, they can be configured to perform complex LCA calculation and automatically update the outcomes when something in the model changes. The goal of this paper is to propose a sample workflow applied to a case study, in order to provide AEC stakeholders with a simplified BIM-based method for easily detecting the potential consequence of undertaking certain design choices at initial project stages or, at least, at those phases when definitive materials and products selection occurs.