Course syllabus

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BOM250 - Life cycle engineering lp3 VT23 (7.5 hp)

The course is offered by the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE)

Welcome!

Dear students! Welcome to the Life Cycle Engineering course. 

Contact details

Examiner

Holger Wallbaum, Professor in Sustainable building, ACE, holger.wallbaum@chalmers.se, M. 0733-83 92 59

Lecturer/Supervisors

Course purpose

The master course aims to provide in-depth knowledge of the concepts of Life Cycle Engineering and sustainable design in the built environment. The focus is on buildings in different climate zones, regulative frameworks and social-economic circumstances. The overall purpose of the course is to acquaint students with state-of-the-art knowledge for their future professional roles as civil engineers, road engineers, planers, consultants, contractors and similar.
The main goal of this course is to deepen and broaden already existing skills in applying simultaneously theories, methodologies and tools related to Life Cycle Engineering and sustainable building and infrastructure design.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

Textbooks

  • Henrikke Bauman, Anne-Marie Tillman. The hitchhiker's guide to LCA
  • Walter Klöpffer, Birgit Grahl. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): A Guide to Best Practice
  • Scott Matthews, Chris Hendrickson, Deanna Matthews. Life cycle assessment: quantitative approaches for decision that matter. http://www.lcatextbook.com/

Supplementary Literature

  • Gregor Wernet, Christian Bauer, Bernhard Steubing, Jürgen Reinhard, Emilia Moreno-Ruiz, Bo Weidema. The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): overview and methodology.
  • International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook
  • EeBGuide Operational Guidance for Life Cycle Assessment Studies of the Energy Efficient Buildings Initiative https://www.eebguide.eu/

Relevant Standards and Regulations

  • ISO 14040:2006: Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Principles and framework
  • ISO 14044:2006: Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines
  • SS-EN 15643:2010-2012: Sustainability of construction works – Sustainability assessment of buildings
  • SS-EN 15978:2011: Sustainability of construction works - Assessment of environmental performance of buildings - Calculation method
  • SS-EN 16309:2014 + A1:2014: Sustainability of construction works – Assessment of social performance of buildings – Calculation methods
  • SS-EN 16627:2015: Sustainability of construction works – Assessment of economic performance of buildings – Calculation methods
  • SS-EN 15941:2012: Sustainability of construction works – Environmental product declarations – Methodology and data for generic data
  • SS-EN 15942:2011: Sustainability of construction works – Environmental product declarations – Communication format business-to-business
  • SS-EN ISO 14025:2010: Environmental standards and declarations - Type III environmental declarations - Principles and procedures
  • SO/TS 14067: Greenhouse gases - Carbon footprint of products - Requirements and guidelines for quantification and communication
  • SS-EN 15804:2012+A1:2013: Sustainability of construction works - Environmental product declarations - Core rules for the product category of construction products

Course design

The course is based on a practical case study of a building/infrastructure (e.g. a building, wall, bridge, road etc.) in a specific temporal and geographical setup. Students will work on these case studies throughout the course on which the principles of a Life Cycle Engineering and Sustainable Design will be applied.


The course explores the key aspects of Life Cycle Engineering in the Build Environment including Sustainability Assessment, Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCCA) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) with a focus on the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

The course is organized around the following themes:

  • Introduction to the Principles of Life Cycle Engineering and sustainable building and infrastructure design
  • Definition of a sustainability matrix for a case study
  • Assessment of the environmental impact of different life cycle stages and components of a case study
  • Identification of significant issues and recommendations from a sustainability perspective for a case study.

At the end of the course, the case study results are summarized in a written report and presented in an oral presentation to the class.

Students work in teams and most of the time self-reliantly. Key topics are introduced and developed through lectures, online content and self-study input. Additional input on the “real-world application” and the importance of LCA in the built environment will be provided through lectures by an external expert. Furthermore, each student team will receive in-depth feedback on their project work in supervision meetings with the teachers. The work per group is presented orally to the teachers and classmates as well as handed-in in a written report at the end of the course.

Access will be provided to the LCA software OpenLCA and the ecoinvent database.

Changes made since the last occasion

No changes have been made since the last course has been given in 2022.

Learning objectives and syllabus

After completion of the course, the student should be able to:

  • Understand the challenges of a sustainable life cycle engineering design and develop strategies and argumentations to overcome the identified obstacles at each of the life cycle stages.
  • Define a sustainability matrix for a case study (building/infrastructure) by formulating: environmental, economic and social minimum standards and envisioned goals for a specified geographical setup.
  • Conduct an Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the building/infrastructure on collected information, previous knowledge and skills and available supporting documents using the tools and methods provided in the course.
  • Conduct other life cycle engineering methods such as Life Cycle Cost Assessment (LCCA) and Social Life Cycle Analysis (SLCA).
  • Understand underlying construction regulations and other documents for a sustainable life cycle engineering design, for example Construction Products Regulation (CPR)
  • Understand underlying available approaches and tools supporting the design of more sustainable buildings/infrastructures, for example the product category rules (PCR).

Examination form

The examination is composed of three parts assessing both the group and the individual performance separately.

Group performance:

  1. The final presentation in the last week of the course
  2. The written report handed in at the end of the course

Individual Performance:

  1. A written exam

The final grade for the course will be made up of the points received for the written group report (max. 100 points) and the written individual exam (max. 100 points). The report and the exam will each make half of your final grade (max. 100 points, where 80-100 points will be a 5, 65-79 points will be a 4, 50-64 points will be a 3, 0-49 will be failed). The final presentation in the last week of the course will be evaluated with pass/fail. However, note that you need to pass all three examination parts on their own as well to receive a final passing grade for the course. The following grades will be used: failed, 3, 4, 5.

Course summary:

Date Details Due