Significance of mobility in the life-cycle assessment of buildings

While most life-cycle assessments of buildings have focused on construction and use phases, the location of a building can significantly affect the transportation demand of its inhabitants. The life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of two representative buildings in Lisbon, Portugal, are compared: an apartment building in the city centre and a semidetached house in a suburban area. An integrated approach is used to conduct a life-cycle analysis that includes building construction, building use and user transportation. Sensitivity analyses are used to evaluate impacts for multiple locations. For the apartment, building use accounted for the largest share of energy and emissions (63–64%), while for the house, most (51–57%) of the energy and emissions were associated with user transportation. Energy and GHG emissions for suburban locations were significantly higher (by 55–115%) than those in the city-centre locations, largely due to individuals commuting by car. The analysis demonstrates the significance of transportation and highlights the importance of residence location in urban planning and environmental assessments. These results are likely to apply to other southern European cities that have expanded with significant growth in car ownership and use. To improve urban sustainability, development strategies should consider the transport infrastructure in addition to building efficiency.