Including Nature-Based Success Measurement Criteria in the Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

Conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) is a technique to assess environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a product’s life or process. Such impacts along the product life or process are assessed via criteria to establish success when accounting for resource intake, waste, and emissions fluxes. In most cases, the assessment range may vary, defined by the designer’s and product’s aims, failing to evaluate all parts of the said cycle completely. This before is said to follow the “reducing unsustainability” paradigm (RUP), and changes are needed toward an assessment based on the “achieving sustainability” paradigm (ASP). Thus, this chapter embarks on the search for assessment approaches, assuming biomimicry principles can improve current LCIA tools. Comprehending the LCA criteria to assess product or process impacts is done via a literature review. Results showed that most assessment tools continue to be developed under the RUP, where three approaches present great potential for an ASP. A discussion over the difference in assessing two case studies in the built environment, net-zero-energy buildings, and sustainable construction projects under both paradigms is presented.