IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i7p3608-d523269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluation of Life-Cycle Assessment Analysis: Application to Restoration Projects and New Construction in Alpine Climate, Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Yohei Endo

    (Department of Architecture, Shinshu University, Nagano 380-8553, Japan)

  • Hideki Takamura

    (Faculty of Engineering, Shinshu University, Nagano 380-8553, Japan)

Abstract

The present paper discusses the applications of life-cycle assessment (LCA) to construction works in Japan. LCA has been frequently used to assess the environmental impacts of new construction. Nonetheless, the applications of LCA to restoration have not been fully confirmed to date. It is said that historical buildings may contribute to sustainable development. Nonetheless, as for heritage buildings, since the protection of cultural value is usually prioritised, their environmental impacts may not be sufficiently explored. To this aim, this paper evaluated the environmental impacts of the restoration of heritage buildings. This paper consisted of two tasks. First, the restoration projects of heritage buildings in Japan were introduced. The restoration of two heritage houses was discussed, referring to heritage protection legislation in Japan. Second, LCA was performed on the restoration of heritage houses and the construction of contemporary houses. Environmental impacts were compared between the restoration and new construction with regard to greenhouse gas emissions and operational energy use. A focus was given to the amount of materials used. Restoration consumes a limited amount of materials compared to new construction, although the energy use of heritage buildings is considerable. The environmental impacts of restoration were quantified so that they were compared with those of new construction. The comparison indicated issues applying LCA to heritage buildings.

Suggested Citation

  • Yohei Endo & Hideki Takamura, 2021. "Evaluation of Life-Cycle Assessment Analysis: Application to Restoration Projects and New Construction in Alpine Climate, Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3608-:d:523269
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3608/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/7/3608/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Commission on Environment and Development,, 1987. "Our Common Future," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780192820808.
    2. Bottino-Leone, Dario & Larcher, Marco & Herrera-Avellanosa, Daniel & Haas, Franziska & Troi, Alexandra, 2019. "Evaluation of natural-based internal insulation systems in historic buildings through a holistic approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 521-531.
    3. Stephen A. Ross & Lynette Cheah, 2017. "Uncertainty Quantification in Life Cycle Assessments: Interindividual Variability and Sensitivity Analysis in LCA of Air-Conditioning Systems," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(5), pages 1103-1114, October.
    4. Antonio Galiano-Garrigós & Ángel González-Avilés & Carlos Rizo-Maestre & MªDolores Andújar-Montoya, 2019. "Energy Efficiency and Economic Viability as Decision Factors in the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-27, September.
    5. Munarim, Ulisses & Ghisi, Enedir, 2016. "Environmental feasibility of heritage buildings rehabilitation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 235-249.
    6. Luís Bragança & Ricardo Mateus & Heli Koukkari, 2010. "Building Sustainability Assessment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(7), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Elisa Di Giuseppe & Marco D’Orazio & Guangli Du & Claudio Favi & Sébastien Lasvaux & Gianluca Maracchini & Pierryves Padey, 2020. "A Stochastic Approach to LCA of Internal Insulation Solutions for Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-35, February.
    8. Claudio Favi & Elisa Di Giuseppe & Marco D’Orazio & Marta Rossi & Michele Germani, 2018. "Building Retrofit Measures and Design: A Probabilistic Approach for LCA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.
    9. Stehn, Lars & Bergstrom, Max, 2002. "Integrated design and production of multi-storey timber frame houses - production effects caused by customer-oriented design," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 259-269, June.
    10. Galatioto, A. & Ricciu, R. & Salem, T. & Kinab, E., 2019. "Energy and economic analysis on retrofit actions for Italian public historic buildings," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 58-66.
    11. Rosa Agliata & Alfonso Marino & Luigi Mollo & Paolo Pariso, 2020. "Historic Building Energy Audit and Retrofit Simulation with Hemp-Lime Plaster—A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-15, June.
    12. Mohamad Monkiz Khasreen & Phillip F. G. Banfill & Gillian F. Menzies, 2009. "Life-Cycle Assessment and the Environmental Impact of Buildings: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-28, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Elena Bykowa & Irina Dyachkova, 2021. "Modeling the Size of Protection Zones of Cultural Heritage Sites Based on Factors of the Historical and Cultural Assessment of Lands," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Elisa Di Giuseppe & Marco D’Orazio & Guangli Du & Claudio Favi & Sébastien Lasvaux & Gianluca Maracchini & Pierryves Padey, 2020. "A Stochastic Approach to LCA of Internal Insulation Solutions for Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-35, February.
    2. Emilia Conte, 2018. "The Era of Sustainability: Promises, Pitfalls and Prospects for Sustainable Buildings and the Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Valentina Marincioni & Virginia Gori & Ernst Jan de Place Hansen & Daniel Herrera-Avellanosa & Sara Mauri & Emanuela Giancola & Aitziber Egusquiza & Alessia Buda & Eleonora Leonardi & Alexander Rieser, 2021. "How Can Scientific Literature Support Decision-Making in the Renovation of Historic Buildings? An Evidence-Based Approach for Improving the Performance of Walls," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-20, February.
    4. Qu, Ke & Chen, Xiangjie & Wang, Yixin & Calautit, John & Riffat, Saffa & Cui, Xin, 2021. "Comprehensive energy, economic and thermal comfort assessments for the passive energy retrofit of historical buildings - A case study of a late nineteenth-century Victorian house renovation in the UK," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    5. Francesca Nocca, 2017. "The Role of Cultural Heritage in Sustainable Development: Multidimensional Indicators as Decision-Making Tool," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-28, October.
    6. Ali Karji & Mostafa Namian & Mohammadsoroush Tafazzoli, 2020. "Identifying the Key Barriers to Promote Sustainable Construction in the United States: A Principal Component Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-21, June.
    7. Marco D’Orazio & Elisa Di Giuseppe & Marta Carosi, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Mortars with Fine Recycled Aggregates from Industrial Waste: Evaluation of Transports Impact in the Italian Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Xabat Oregi & Rufino Javier Hernández & Patxi Hernandez, 2020. "Environmental and Economic Prioritization of Building Energy Refurbishment Strategies with Life-Cycle Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Belén Onecha & Alicia Dotor & Carlos Marmolejo-Duarte, 2021. "Beyond Cultural and Historic Values, Sustainability as a New Kind of Value for Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.
    10. Nima Pirhadi & Xiaowei Tang & Qing Yang & Fei Kang, 2018. "A New Equation to Evaluate Liquefaction Triggering Using the Response Surface Method and Parametric Sensitivity Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    11. Yvan Dutil & Daniel Rousse & Guillermo Quesada, 2011. "Sustainable Buildings: An Ever Evolving Target," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-22, February.
    12. Laura Tupenaite & Irene Lill & Ineta Geipele & Jurga Naimaviciene, 2017. "Ranking of Sustainability Indicators for Assessment of the New Housing Development Projects: Case of the Baltic States," Resources, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-21, October.
    13. Cho, Hyun Mi & Yun, Beom Yeol & Kim, Young Uk & Yuk, Hyeonseong & Kim, Sumin, 2022. "Integrated retrofit solutions for improving the energy performance of historic buildings through energy technology suitability analyses: Retrofit plan of wooden truss and masonry composite structure i," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Eva Krídlová Burdová & Iveta Selecká & Silvia Vilčeková & Dušan Burák & Anna Sedláková, 2020. "Evaluation of Family Houses in Slovakia Using a Building Environmental Assessment System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-28, August.
    15. Thibodeau, Charles & Bataille, Alain & Sié, Marion, 2019. "Building rehabilitation life cycle assessment methodology–state of the art," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 408-422.
    16. Cagatay Tasdemir & Rado Gazo & Henry J. Quesada, 2020. "Sustainability benchmarking tool (SBT): theoretical and conceptual model proposition of a composite framework," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(7), pages 6755-6797, October.
    17. Antonio Galiano-Garrigós & Ángel González-Avilés & Carlos Rizo-Maestre & MªDolores Andújar-Montoya, 2019. "Energy Efficiency and Economic Viability as Decision Factors in the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-27, September.
    18. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    19. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    20. CHEN, Helen S.Y., 2020. "Designing Sustainable Humanitarian Supply Chains," OSF Preprints m82ar, Center for Open Science.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:7:p:3608-:d:523269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.