New Practice for Minimum Criteria for Comparing Materials and Systems During Built Environment Use Stage Life Cycle Assessments (LCA)
1. Scope
1.1 This practice provides the minimum criteria that are to be applied irrespective of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool that is used when Use Stage LCA is undertaken to compare either the actual or expected performance of materials and systems in existing or service environment specific reference designs.
1.2 The purpose of this practice is to support the use of Cradle-to-Grave or Cradle-to-Cradle Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the built environment by ensuring that all Use Stage assessments are based on the same minimum criteria.
1.3 Use Stage LCA shall at minimum include the environmental, social and economic aspects of material and system sustainability, resilience risk assessment, and any predictable or planned service environment or function changes. The following shall be determined and included in the Use Stage LCA calculations:
1.3.1 The user, industry association, code, specification or regulation defined minimum service life requirement for the application;
1.3.2 All service environment and mandatory performance characteristics that will affect the durability, deterioration, maintenance, and potential replacement of the materials and systems used for the application;
1.3.3 A resilience assessment to determine the risk(s), the ability of the materials and systems to mitigate them, ability to restore function within specified parameters, perhaps repeatedly, and the impact of maintenance, material failure and replacement; and
1.3.4 Human or environmental risk associated with exposure to installed materials or systems as the result of normal use, predictable material deterioration, resilience risk or expected maintenance.
NOTE: Examples of predictable or planned service environment changes, including sea level rise, planned changes in building or structure function, expected industrial process line changes or expansions, and other anticipated changes.
1.4 This practice does not supersede existing ISO LCA standards, which define basic LCA methodology, calculation methods or related matters, nor does it address any other stage of LCA.
1.5 The text of this standard contains notes that provide explanatory material. These notes shall not be considered as
requirements of the standard.
1.6 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the
responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety, health, and environmental practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.
1.7 This international standard was developed in accordance with internationally recognized principles on standardization established in the Decision on Principles for the Development of International Standards, Guides and Recommendations issued by the World Trade Organization Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee.
Keywords
LCA, Life Cycle Assessment, Use Stage, sustainability, resilience, durability,
Rationale
There are currently no comprehensive international standards establishing the minimum requirements for all aspects of the Use Stage of LCA. This umbrella standard, which will be developed on accelerated basis, will establish the minimum requirements for Use Stage LCA for any application. As was communicated by speakers at the ASTM E60/NIST Workshop on Decarbonization A Gap Analysis of LCA Standards for Industry and during the organization of the event, Use Stage LCA must consider both sustainability and resilience, in a changing world. The intent is to publish a standard establishing minimum requirements as quickly as possible, so that it is in place to support and be referenced by other accelerated LCA related initiatives. It is assumed that further development and expansion of this standard will occur after publication.
Additional standards will be needed to address specific service environments, applications and aspects of Use Stage LCA. Once developed, they could then be referenced by this standard so that users can identify the appropriate standard(s) to complete their LCA. These supporting standards may be developed by this or other ASTM committees or by other standards setting organizations. The intent is a coordinated effort to efficiently fill this Use Stage LCA gap utilizing the expertise of each ASTM committee or organization., hopefully working cooperatively. As such, this standard will also direct users to well respected resources, such as AMPP's publications on material deterioration in specific environments, NOAA sea level rise projections, US National Atmospheric Deposition Program data among others. There is no intent to duplicate efforts but to instead to fully utilize the resources that exist or may be developed in support of the overall effort.
One important aspect of Use Stage LCA is assessment of any risks to humans or the environmental associated with exposure to materials during use, maintenance, repair or replacement.. The intent is to use E3182 Standard Practice for Preparing an Occupant Exposure Screening Report (OESR) for Substances in Installed Building Products as a model for a separate umbrella standard that establishes minimum requirements for any application or service environment specific assessment. E3182 would be referenced by this standard, and it would also be developed on an accelerated basis. There are already standards efforts related to this area, and an umbrella standard is critical so that a consistent, scientific, risk based approach is used.
