BIM-Based LCA Method to Analyze Envelope Alternatives of Single-Family Houses: Case Study in Uruguay

Currently, Uruguay is developing several measures to reduce the environmental impact of human activities and CO2 emissions. In 2015 more than 90% of electricity was produced by renewable sources. Despite this fact, the construction, transport, and building sectors are still responsible for more than 60% of CO2 emissions. Reducing building environmental impacts is becoming an increasing challenge. Lifecycle assessment (LCA) is recognized as a method that can help to reduce the environmental impact of the building sector. The LCA can be used as an early-stage decision-making tool to assess design choices that impact the environment. The present paper developed a method based on LCA that integrates building information modeling (BIM) to assess building envelope alternatives. The method is validated by the application in a single-family house, which is the most popular typology, in Uruguay, considering three envelope alternatives including frequent and nonfrequent materials. Results focused on comparing the embodied impacts, transport, and operational energy consumptions of each scenario. The results show that the developed method can help during the building design process, especially when defining dimension and thickness of materials.