Evaluation of environmental impacts of hotel buildings having different envelopes using a life cycle analysis approach

Abstract

A life cycle analysis approach was used to assess the environmental impacts for three types of hotel buildings having various envelope configurations and materials, built in different climates: Algeria and France. The study assesses through a comparative approach the impact of building components on its energy performance and their environmental cost over the entire life cycle of the building. The life cycle analysis was performed using PLEIADES software tools. The results show that it is possible to reduce the energy requirements of both traditional and standard building envelopes by assigning low-consumption building scenarios. However, although these scenarios could reduce some environmental impacts, they could also enhance others. In order to improve the results of life cycle analysis, another variant that generates less impacts than previously simulated variants was developed by retaining the following environmental scenarios: superfluous material at the site, 5%; lifetime of doors and windows should be 30 years; coating life-time should be 10 years; use of natural gas for heating; wood energy for domestic hot water; consumption of cold water should be 0.2 m3/person/day; selective collection of glass, 50%; selective collection of paper, 30%; incinerated waste, 30%; and the produced waste should not be more than 1 kg/person/day.