Life Cycle Assessment of High Performance, Low Cost Homes
Abstract While there is increasing desire to improve the energy performance and sustainability of homes, there remains a strong need for lower cost housing. This research involved the construction of a prototype house intended to achieve both high performance and low cost. This paper reports on an assessment of the environmental performance of the prototype using life cycle assessment techniques. A life cycle assessment was conducted for the innovative magnesium oxide structural insulated panels used for the prototype's envelope system in comparison with traditional structural insulated panels and a stick frame envelope The results show that the impact of transporting materials from China has a negative impact on the life cycle analysis results of the magnesium oxide panels relative to the wood based alternatives, which could be largely alleviated through domestic sourcing of the main materials. The life cycle analysis was also performed on the lighting and heating designs for the prototype home, which showed that these systems performed very well relative to more conventional alternatives.