Enhancing whole building life cycle assessment through building information modelling: Principles and best practices

• Published in: Energy and buildings 2023-10, Vol.296, p.113401, Article 113401
• Main Authors: Klumbyte, Egle, Georgali, Phoebe-Zoe, Spudys, Paulius, Giama, Effrosyni, Morkunaite, Lina, Pupeikis, Darius, Jurelionis, Andrius, Fokaides, Paris
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Application programming interface; Building information modelling; Industry 4.0; Level(s); Life cycle assessment
• ISSN: 0378-7788
• DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2023.113401

The building physics research community is facing a challenge in evaluating the sustainability of modern buildings using digital tools and methods. Achieving carbon neutrality, the primary objective of the building industry, requires incorporating Industry 4.0 tools into current building evaluation procedures. To address this need, this research presents an Application Programming Interface (API) designed to facilitate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for entire buildings using information from Building Information Modelling (BIM) files. The study outlines the steps involved in developing a BIM-LCA API, including code development and validation with commercial software. The research identifies challenges in creating a uniform database platform for BIM-LCA, and the need for region-specific databases to provide automated material classification for measuring potential environmental consequences. The study also emphasizes the importance of establishing market-level sustainability standards through the development of relevant tools, training techniques, and procedures, and the need for national rating systems to align with these standards to achieve European climate adaptation and circularity goals. The assessment also identifies future challenges in the field and highlights the expected role of the European Union (EU) Level(s) sustainability scheme.