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UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change
CONSTRUCTION LIFE CYCLE RESEARCH The construction sector is the single largest contributor to global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, with approximately one third of global energy end use taking place within buildings. Further to this, the construction sector is responsible for more than a third of global resource consumption, according to UNEP. In the EU, the construction sector is currently responsible for 42% of the final energy consumption and 35% of GHG emissions. International and European policy is therefore highlighting the need to construct new “greener” buildings and retrofit existing energy and resource intensive building stock. European policy, through Directive 2010/31/UE (EPBD recast), has set up targets for buildings, establishing that by 2020 they will need to be “nearly zero energy”. All stages of buildings´ life cycle impact on the environment: raw material extraction and transport; energy consumption required for manufacturing and transporting building materials from production plants to construction site; energy and water consumption and waste production during construction; energy consumption to meet use phase energy demand; maintenance and ultimately demolition and disposal at the end of materials´ useful life. Due to legislative,
social and market pressures, the consideration of environmental aspects in the construction sector is becoming increasingly and strategically urgent. Particularly, those related to the reduction of both energy consumption and carbon footprint in the design of buildings. Despite its high relevance and associated environmental impacts, it is also necessary to look into other life cycle stages in order to be able to identify current and future improvement measures for buildings. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a versatile and useful methodology for doing so however, at present, there is virtually no link between LCA and existing energy certification procedures. The incorporation of LCA in these procedures could improve them by means of assessing the embodied energy of construction materials and the impact of associated transportation and materials disposal; obtaining a better approximation to the real environmental impact of the whole building; promoting the construction of more sustainable buildings and the innovation in the building sector as well as promoting buildings´ refurbishment reducing their energy consumption and increasing their durability, while reducing environmental impacts due to the avoided new building.
EnerBuiLCA (2010-2012) “LCA for Energy Efficiency in Buildings” This project, funded by SUDOE, aims to develop a quantitative LCA methodology for the assessment of the direct and indirect energy related impacts of buildings along their whole life cycle. The methodology and tool produced will be applicable to the French, Spanish and Portuguese context. www.enerbuilcasudoe.eu RENIA (2010-2013) “Solar installations life-cycle applications” This project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the ERDF, aims at producing a new software tool which can be used to eco-design and produce Environmental Product Declarations for building-integrated solar thermal and solar photovoltaic installations. The tool will be based on a rigorous life cycle analysis framework, and make use of the most up-to-date life cycle inventory data, as well as first-hand input from Spanish manufacturers. CICLOPE (2009-2011) This project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and the ERDF, aims to develop a methodology and a useful tool for the evaluation of environmental and economic impacts of buildings through their life cycle. www.pseciclope.es
TECHNICAL BACKGROUND STUDY IN SUPPORT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT POLICY FOR BUILDINGS (2011-2012) This project, funded by the European Commission, aims at providing assistance to the European Joint Research Centre - IPTS with the development of Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement criteria for the product group “Office Buildings”.
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT DECLARATIONS (2008-ongoing) Different projects have been and are being carried out related to the creation of ecolabelling systems (such as DAPc), the development of Product Category Rules and Environmental Product Declarations (individual and sectoral) and the programming of software tools to help companies to develop this type of ecolabels.
Contact UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change Escola Superior de Comerç InternacionalUniversitat Pompeu Fabra (ESCI-UPF) Passeig Pujades 1, E-08003 Barcelona, España Tel. (+34) 93 295 4710 Fax. (+34) 93 295 4720 unescochair@esci.es www.unescochair.esci.es www.giga.cat
CONSTRUCTION 21
(2011-2013) A European Green Building Exchange. This project, funded by the European Commission through the Intelligent Energy Europe program, aims to create a Cross-European exchange for professionals consolidating data in EU BUILD-Up website, following the French CONSTRUCTION 21 thematic communities and case studies competition. construction21.eu
SECTORIAL LCA OF CERAMIC TILES (20092010) This project, funded by the Spanish association of ceramic tiles producers (ASCER) and the Autonomous Government of Valencia (where the biggest cluster of Spanish ceramic tiles producers is located) aims to obtain reliable and representative LCA data on the environmental performance of this type of product. The information will be used in the identification of improvement strategies and the development of Environmental Product Declarations.
Cristina Gazulla
Marina Isasa
Head of Research Line
Project Leader
M.Sc in Environmental Science and Bachelor of Environmental Science by the UAB, currently completing her PhD thesis. She works as Assistant- Director at the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change and she is the head of the construction and ecolabels research line. She has undertaken over 25 research studies on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), ecodesign, green purchasing and ecolabelling. She has actively worked in the construction sector, being a member of the Spanish Normalization Technical Committee AEN/CTN 198 “Sustainability on Construction Works” and the Advisory Board Secretary of the Environmental Product Declaration system operated by CAATEEB. Further to this, she has authored over 20 publications.
MA in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Management (University of Manchester, United Kingdom) and Bachelor’s Degree in Biology (Universidad de Navarra, Spain). She currently works as a Project Leader at the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change. Further to this, she is the Technical Secretary of the UNESCO Chair. She has participated in six R+D LCA projects applied to the construction sector. She developed her previous work experience in the United Kingdom focusing, mainly, in the environmental assessment of projects, plans and programmes applied to the renewable energy and waste sectors.