A comparative life cycle assessment of building sustainability across typical European building geometries

In recent years, significant progress has been made in the sustainability assessment of building materials and buildings. The introduction of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the development of Level(s), and the release of relevant series of standards have helped to improve the sustainability of buildings. However, a research question that remains unresolved is the lack of information related to the comparison of the sustainability performance of building units across Europe and the significance of conducting such research. This study addressed this question by implementing a comparative whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) across buildings in Europe. The study emphasizes the necessity of considering typical building geometries and thermal performance of buildings across Europe and introduces six typical building geometries for three different European clusters (northern-western, central-eastern, southern cluster). The results of this study revealed that the sustainability performance of buildings is not similar across the EU and that cost-optimal minimum thermal performance requirements for building structures have a significant impact on their environmental performance. Particularly, single-family houses in Central and Eastern Europe are responsible for 324.42 kgCO2e/m2. Contrary to this, Northern and Western European single-family buildings have the lowest environmental impact with 268.97 kgCO2e/m2. Multifamily houses in Southern Europe are responsible for 321.82 kgCO2e/m2, in Northern and Western Europe the environmental impact is 275.37 kgCO2e/m2. The outcome of this study is significant for the scientific community involved in assessing the sustainability of buildings in Europe, as it provides valuable insights into their environmental performance, considering the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects of buildings. The study's findings should be considered when setting minimum LCA-related requirements, in view of the provisions of the new EU policies expressed in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast for defining the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of new buildings.