M10 AM Building Life-Cycle Capacity in the Greening of Buildings and Construction Consideration
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM in 341-342

(FAV-1118-068184) Drivers for application of life cycle thinking and LCA.

Fava, J¹, ¹ Five Winds International, West Chester, PA, USA

ABSTRACT- This presentation takes a look back over the last 10-15 years, examines what we have learned, describes what the world from a life cycle perspective will look like in 10 years, and then outlines steps that should be taken now to move us towards this future stage. The premise is that much has occurred with respect to building the supply for life cycle assessment (LCA), but not enough has been accomplished to building the demand. Over the next ten years, both the demand and supply for life cycle thinking and life cycle assessment will be enhanced, with particular emphasis in the demand side. For example, Governments are beginning to develop product-oriented policies based upon life cycle thinking and approaches; The UN Sustainable Consumption and Production 10 year program arising from the World Summit in 2002 calls for a life cycle economy; Green building organizations are examining how LCA can be used to improve the fundamental criteria for defining green buildings; and Companies are using life cycle approaches to identify improvement opportunities in product design and development and then how to use the life cycle information to communicate to customers and other downstream users. What is needed to build a greater demand is a fundamental shift to a proactive product life cycle strategy. This shift will redirect corporate, government, and other stakeholder resources to understand, identify, and manage risks, opportunities and trade-offs associated with products, technologies and services over their whole life cycle, a "cradle-to-grave" or "cradle-to-cradle" perspective. Significant gaps often exist in the way that companies and governments manage the risks, on one hand, and create opportunities, on the other hand, associated with products over the entire life cycle, from material sourcing, manufacturing, and use, to end of life management. Businesses and governments are and will continue to take actions to fill these gaps.

Key words: life-cycle approaches, environmental trends, sustainability