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Case Study: SIMPLIFIED LCA OF BUILDINGS WITH “PASSIVHAUS” STANDARD, by CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA
Construcciones URRUTIA S.A. is a construction company, constituted in Vitoria –
Gasteiz in 1972, although its origins date back to 1939. For over seven decades it
has participated in all kinds of constructing projects.
The keys to its long history and the satisfaction of its clients, have been the
professionalism of its staff, its flexibility and adaptability. URRUTIA has specialized
in advising and constructing ”Passivhaus” or passive houses, becoming the first
developer in the Basque Country and Spain to build on this standard.
Description of
the company
For these two indicators an analysis of the existing tools in the
market was carried out, then the staff was trained in the chosen
tool: E2CO2cero. After an initial application of the tool to a pilot
project from the PASSIV buildings portfolio allowing to analyze
different constructing solutions.
Short
description of
the project
Key
Objectives of
the Project
The project consisted of the evaluation of the
environmental impact generated by the
predevelopment of USE and
MAINTENANCE of a set of buildings from
which we already knew the impact during the
use and maintenance through the
PASSIVHAUS standard.
URRUTIA had a portfolio of buildings which
met this demanding standard, and its interest
was to expand the analysis to other phases
of the life cycle of the building. It was decided
that they were going to address the two most
significant phases – election of material and
execution of work – by studying two
indicators: EMBEDDED ENERGY and
CARBON FOOTPRINT
Timeline
Simplified LCA to estimate energy efficiency,
reduction of energy use through every stage
of the building’s life cycle.
LC Approach
used in the
Project
Sector 1st July 2015
-
31st March 2016
Aware of the environmental responsibility
that causes the development of its activities,
URRUTIA has been certified by international
standard ISO 14001 pledging to work for
continuous improvement, through the
identification and assessment of
environmental objectives in its projects.
Motivation
Factors
• Adelina Uriarte – Construcciones
URRUTIA, S.A (SME)
• Estibaliz Uriarte - Construcciones
URRUTIA, S.A (SME)
• Ana Belen de Isla – LKS Ingenieria
(Coach)
• Eugenia Atin – Prospektiker (LCiP Project)
• Olatz Errazkin – Prospektiker (LC
Champion
Project team
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Case Study: SIMPLIFIED LCA OF BUILDINGS WITH “PASSIVHAUS” STANDARD, by CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA
The main difficulty of the project has been the
necessity to identify a tool which allows to obtain these
indicators from the materials incorporated into work.
The buildings incorporate several thousand materials
and it was vital to locate and handle an extensive
database of building materials and to give information
about the embedded energy and carbon footprint of
each material and each construction process. Once
E2CO2cero was chosen as the tool to use, the staff
was trained on its use and they started to apply it to
URRUTIA’s construction projects.
Implementation
challenges /
lessons learnt
Expected
Impact
Results of the
project
Throughout the project three meetings have been held with the coach to define the targets, the tool and the
methodology. We have obtained CO2 and embedded energy indicators of six PASSIV buildings, allowing URRUTIA
to identify the chapters and materials of greatest environmental impact. It has also allowed to compare between
different key materials in the energy performance of the building, for instance thermal insulation materials or exterior
carpentry.
The project has extended URRUTIA’s LCA methodology, focused on use and maintenance phase, to other phases
with a significant potential impact to extend the energy efficiency policy and commitment to sustainable development
at the entire life cycle of the building. Two basic indicators ware chosen: EMBEDDED ENERGY and CARBON
FOOTPRINT. By embedded energy we understand the total amount of energy consumed for the construction of the
building. It contemplates the energy used in the manufacturing process, the energy used for the transportation of
materials and the energy used by the machinery in the execution of the different work units. The carbon footprint of a
building quantifies the total of greenhouse gasses (GHG) emitted as a result of the construction of said building
measured as the equivalent CO2 mass.
Description of
the Project
Environmental Impact
The pilot application of the tool in the real PASSIV projects allowed
to prove that the embedded energy and carbon footprint in a
passive building were larger, but it is more than compensated in
the use and maintenance phase.
When we were starting the project, we got the information from an
international study of the carbon footprint and embedded energy in
buildings and the result was the same. Passive buildings have a
greater carbon footprint and embedded energy during
construction, but it compensates during the use of said building.
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Case Study: SIMPLIFIED LCA OF BUILDINGS WITH “PASSIVHAUS” STANDARD, by CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA
Description of
maturity in LC
approaches
before the
project
CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA is ISO
14001 certified and sustainability has
always been important, that is why they
have a line of work with “passiv” housing.
However, before the project they had
never quantified the energy savings nor
the life cycle of the “passiv” projects vs.
traditional projects.
Description of
maturity in LC
approaches
after the
project
Maturity and Strategy
Following the completion of the pilot
project, CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA
has access to a tool for simplified LCA
(E2CO2cero), 2 people have been trained
to use the tool and now they are able to
quantify the benefits of certain materials
and activities that make a house "passiv".
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Case Study: SIMPLIFIED LCA OF BUILDINGS WITH “PASSIVHAUS” STANDARD, by CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA
This project is a step forward in URRUTIA’s path, which serves to strengthen the path chosen in 2003 with the
certification ISO 14001 and later with the PASSIV project analyzing the environmental impact of these projects in the
entire life cycle of the building.
Environmental Standpoint
The results show that the embedded energy and carbon footprint of a passive building is greater than that of a usual
building, but it compensates during the using phase of the life cycle. However, that does not mean that every effort
made to reduce that environmental impact is useless. EDPs can be a very useful tool as they allow comparisons and
not just make energy efficient buildings, but also use products which will cause a lesser environmental impact.
Evaluation of
the project
Economic
feasibility:
expected ROI
and payback
periods
The software tool used has an annual cost of under 100€ and the time needed for each analysis and study of each
project can be of around 4-5 hours, which means we are talking about an investment so small in quantity that there
is no need for a payback study.
Adelina Uriarte
Estibaliz Uriarte
www.construccionesurrutia.com
Coach:
Ana Belén de Isla. LKS INGENIERIA
LCiP Project: Eugenia Atin
LC Champion: Olatz Errazkin
LCiP website:
www.lifelcip.eu
Planned follow
up activities CONSTRUCCIONES URRUTIA is going to
do the simplified LCA of all the construction
projects of dwellings, not only “passivhaus”
houses but all of them. The more projects we
have to compare, the better, and then
URRUTIA can make informed decisions
concerning materials (insulation, carpentry,
etc.) taking into account the complete life
cycle of those materials and the building
itself.
Links and
contacts for
further
information
This project has been funded with support from the LIFE+ Programme of the EU. The views expressed here
are purely the authors’ own and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made
of the information contained herein.
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