Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2.5
An Italian case-study in the
€
CO
2
project: Progetto C.A.S.E. L'Aquila (Luigi Fragola
and Partners, Studio Legnopiù Srl)
The largest part of embodied energy is usually that in load-bearing structure
(56 %). Other building components groups with large amounts of embodied
energy are the façade (14 %) and the internal fitting-out (20 %). It has been dem-
onstrated that about 10-15 % of the embodied energy of a conventional building
can be recovered through recycling (Thormark
2006
). Even if there isn't an inter-
nationally accepted method for assessing and comparing the recycling potential
of materials, a recent study suggests the potential recycling energy as a factor for
assessing the recycling value of materials separate from embodied energy (Saghafi
and Teshnizi
2011
).
2.2.3.3 Service Life Planning
Several major concepts come into play when using LCA and thinking from a life-
cycle perspective as service life and durability. Service life refers to how long the
building is being designed to last. It is most important to establish an explicit pro-
jected service life for the building. Durability functions within the context of ser-
vice life. Any building system will last only as long as the entire combination of
components of the system last. In theory, durability describes the potential for a
building material to maintain the functions assigned to it for a certain length of
