BIM Integrated Approach Towards an Accessible LCA: A Critical Review of Recent Approaches and Tools

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has provided a roadmap for analyzing the environmental impacts in the construction sector. Due to the dilemma of dealing with the enormous building information throughout its life stages, the integration of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) into the LCA approach in the early-design stage has achieved value in the decision-making process. However, the interoperability and the capability of a seamlessly integrated BIM-based LCA approach remain ambiguous. This paper aims to fill this gap through a critical review of the BIM-LCA integration concept and its possible strategies workflow that differed from manual, semi-automated to automated integration. Based on the promising architect’s perspective of using LCA plug-ins to provide instant feedback on hot spots or most important impacts for design decisions, the paper screen the most existing plug-ins for this automated strategy; Tally and One Click LCA plug-in for BIM program; Autodesk Revit.