Life cycle assessment for an american residential duplex

Abstract

The study examines a life cycle assessment of a typical American residential home in Denver, Colorado USA. A detailed materials list was generated from the list of purchases and subcontractor payments throughout the construction of the house. With this information, the embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions during three phases - construction phase, operation phase and end-of-life phase of the life of the house were generated using CES EduPack. The construction phase considers all materials, appliances and mechanical equipment to make the house liveable. The operation phase examines the gas, electricity and water consumed during the 50-year life of the house. The end-of-life phase summarizes the effects of different disposal methods of the home. The environmental impacts of the construction phase and operation phase are responsible for a majority of the embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions while the end-of-life has a negligible effect