Integration of Building Information Modelling and Life Cycle Assessment: Towards a Framework for Workflow

Abstract

The building sector has high environmental impacts such as significant energy consumption and waste generation, which demands the development of tools to assess and reduce the impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) enables the quantification of the environmental impacts but also faces difficulties of detailed information acquisition. The application of Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers the possibility to simplify and optimize the LCA process on account of the abundant data stored in the 3D building model. Therefore, the BIM-LCA integration has a high potential. This paper aims to propose a holistic workflow framework of BIM and LCA based on the qualitative content analysis. The framework links four steps of the traditional LCA process, namely Goal and Scope, Life Cycle Inventory, Life Cycle Impact Assessment and Interpretations, with three components of the BIM process, namely Pre- BIM, Modelling and Collaborations, and Results Collection and Visualization, to streamline the BIM-LCA integration. Challenges and future research directions within the integration process are explored as well in this research.