Edinburgh Napier University

  Refurbishment of existing buildings represents a major challenge for the UK Government to meet the greenhouse gases (GHG) target. Double Skin Façades are one possible solution for low-carbon façade retrofit of existing non-domestic buildings. Available research mainly focused on the operational energy, overlooking the embodied energy which often accounts for up to 50% of the life cycle energy. Due to the lack of available tools with a specific focus to assess life cycle environmental performances of composite materials, a ISO-compliant method has been developed. A review of current standards and seminal literatures about life cycle assessment of buildings and building façades led to a framework based on elementary life cycle processes and different life cycle stages. Mathematical equations to assess whole-life energy, whole-life carbon, and global warming potential have been derived from those available at a building level. The method proposed diminishes the risk of double counting figures throughout the life cycle study as it follows a consequentiality-based approach. The specific focus on composite materials helps achieve more accurate figures at the material level in the assessment of the life cycle environmental impacts.