Abstract
Environmental assessment is part of present decision making. But, because of difficulties the assessments are not as profound as could be. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a cradle-to-grave approach and consequently a time factor is embedded. Until now this time factor is fixed and calculations are based on index figures. One of these index figures is the service life of a product. The accuracy of this service life can be questioned.
The service life is influenced by many aspects. Three of these aspects also have an influence on the environmental burden: premature replacement, sequential use and subdivision of environmental burden. These aspects lead to a service life different from the index figures and as a result the environmental burden of the building (or component) will differ as well. Aim of this article is to indicate the value of knowledge about service life. Only with a valid service life further assessments are useful and profound environmental assessments can be carried out.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | 2nd International symposium Integrated life-time engineering of buildings and civil infrastructures, Kuopio, Finland |
| Place of Publication | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| Publisher | In-house publishing |
| Pages | 487-493 |
| Publication status | Published - 2003 |
