A Comparison of Life Cycle Impact of Mass Timber and Concrete in Building Construction

Table 4.

Some previous works showing system boundaries andenvironmental impacts.

Reference number

Year of publication

System boundary

Environmental Impacts that were evaluated

[1]

2020

Cradle to grave

Global warming potential, human health (HH particulate), acidification potential, Eutrophication potential, Ozone depletion potential, and Smog potential

[14]

2020

(Except B6: operational use phase)

Global warming, ozone depletion, smog, acidification, eutrophication, total primary energy, non-renewable fossil, non-renewable nuclear and renewable.

[13]

2020

Cradle to gate (site) A1 - A5

Embodied emission (Global warming potential).

[33]

2019

Modules A1 - A3 production of building materials, cradle to gate), A4 (transportation of building materials to the building site), and B4 (replacement of building materials through the building lifetime/study period).

Embodied carbon; embodied energy.

[37]

2018

Cradle to gate: extraction of resources, transportation, manufacturing and fabrication of construction materials.

Human health, ecosystems, resources, ozone depletion, climate change, human toxicity, agricultural land occupation, and photochemical oxidant formation.

[17]

2017

Cradle to Grave

Global warming potential (fossil and biogenic).

[30]

2016

Modules A1 - A3 (product stage), B2 (Maintenance), B4 (Replacement), C3 (Waste processing), C4 (Disposal) D(Benefits and loads beyond system boundary)

climate change impact

[32]

2015

Cradle to gate

Global warming impact.

[18]

2020

A1 - A5. Cradle to Building construction, B5, B6, C1 - C4

Global warming potential, human toxicity acidification potential, ozone depletion potential and fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity, but it showed the highest impact in Eutrophication potential.

[3]

2018

A1 raw material supply, A2 transport of material to factory, A3 manufacturing, A4 transport to the construction site, A5 construction process, B2 maintenance, B3 repair, B4 replacement of building materials and components, B6 operational energy use, C1 deconstruction, C2, transport to final disposal, C4 final disposal

Global warming potential (measured in CO2 eq)

[4]

2016

(B7 operational water use was excluded).

Global warming potential, human health (HH particulate), acidification potential, Eutrophication potential, Ozone depletion potential, and Smog potential

[2]

2016

Cradle to grave: global warming potential

Global warming, ozone depletion, smog, acidification, eutrophication, total primary energy, non-renewable fossil, non-renewable nuclear and renewable.

[16]

2014

Production, operation and end-of-life phases

Embodied emission (Global warming potential).

[31]

2012

A1 - A3 (product stage), A4 - A5 (Construction process stage), B1 - B7 (Use stage), C1 - C4 (End of life), D1 - D4 (Benefits and loads beyond the system boundary)

Embodied carbon; embodied energy.

[40]

2009

Cradle to gate

Human health, ecosystems, resources, ozone depletion, climate change, human toxicity, agricultural land occupation, and photochemical oxidant formation.