LVL Handbook EUROPE

1. LVL AS A CONSTRUCTIONMATERIAL

Table 1.4.

Life cycle stages of building environmental assessment based on EN 15978.

LVL 01, Table 1.4.A • muokattu

Life cycle stages

Module

Building

life cycle

information

Product stage

Raw material supply

Transport

Manufacturing

Construction process stage

Transport

Construction installation process

Use stage

Use

Maintenance

Repair

Replacement

Refurbishment

Operational energy use

Operational water use

End of life stage

De-construction, demolition

Transport

Waste processing

Disposal

Additional

information

outside the

system boundary

Potential benefits and loads

Reuse, recovery, recycling potential

1.5.2 Sustainable over the life cycle

Wood products offer renewable and sustainable solutions for

construction. Wood as a renewable material has a lower glob-

al warming impact compared to alternative, non-renewable

building materials. The infinite carbon cycle between the at-

mosphere, growing trees and wood products distinguishes re-

newable wood from non-renewable materials.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a holistic approach for as-

sessing environmental impacts throughout a product’s or sys-

tem’s life cycle, from extraction of raw materials to disposal of

the product. The principles of LCA have been internationally

agreed and standardized with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044

standards, which enables third-party verification of life cycle

calculations. LCA compiles and evalua es the inputs, outputs

and potential environmental impacts of a product or system

throughout its life cycle. LCA helps manufacturers to identi-

fy opportunities to improve the environmental and climate

performance of a product and to inform customers and stake-

holders. LCA includes four steps; defining of the goal and

scope, inventory of material and energy flows, assessment of

impacts, and interpretation of results.

Environmental performance of buildings and

building products

The European standard series ‘Sustainability of Construction

Works’ (CEN/TC 350) guides the assessment of the sustaina-

bility of buildings and building products. The standard series

aims to enhance the supply and demand of products and build-

ings that have as low environmental impact as possible. Envi-

ronmental assessment of a building is based on the life cycle

approach, in which each of the different stages of the building’s

life cycle are included and assessed (Figure 1.17).

At the product and service level, the environmental

product declaration (EPD) applies the life cycle assessment

approach and presents quantified environmental information

over a product’s life cycle. EPDs enable comparison between

different products with the same functional purpose at the

building level. In the case of LVL, the comparison is most ap-

propriately done at the structure type level, e.g. structures with

the same load carrying capacity and stiffness. The EN 15804

standard provides product category rules (PCR) for an envi-

ronmental product declaration for any construction product

or construction service (Table 1.4). Biogenic carbon content

LVL Handbook Europe