Lifecycle assessment (LCA, also known as life-cycle analysis) is a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all the stages of the life-cycle of a commercial product, process, or service.
While many variants exist, Speckel uses environmental flow coefficients, in collaboration with the Environmental Performance in Construction (EPiC) project from the University of Melbourne, to provide Lifecycle assessment on the fly!
We calculate initial and operational energy of a given design when you are busy designing a Wall System to the requirements of J 1.5 – Total System R-value for walls (AS/NZS 4859.2:2018) requirements, including thermal bridging (NZS 4214:2006).
Step 1 – Let’s first reuse the Lightweight Cladding (Cavity fixed to 92mm steel frame) Wall System we created in Wall Systems Tutorial 1 – Getting Started.
Step 2 – Reviewing a Wall System lifecycle assessment could not be easier as everything is done for you. Once you have built a Wall System, results are displayed under Lifecycle on the right-hand side. Here, you can review the embodied energy, GHG and water as per the material coefficients on the EPIC database.