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Purpose: This study emerged from a research project that aimed to develop a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model for torrent control structures. This publication constitutes the last part of model development and shows the LCA results of the examined structure types considering the entire life cycle. These LCA results will be used in a further step to close the environmental knowledge gap within the area of sustainability assessment. The sustainability assessment of buildings is already widespread and standardised in Green Building Rating Systems (GBRSs), which use LCA benchmarks for the rating of environmental indicators. The development of GBRSs for infrastructure is somewhat younger than the developements in the building sector and the existing systems do not yet provide LCA benchmarks for the environmental rating of the structures. The study shows how to derive benchmarks from the LCA results and thus gives a quantitative basis for a future rating of environmental indicators of torrent control structures. Methods: The methodological basics for the LCA of torrent control structures were created by screening LCAs of several construction projects. From these construction projects, different structure types could be identified and classified. Functional units were developed, which can be assigned to the structure types. Uncertainties arise because these structure types are not always built in the same way. It can be distinguished between five uncertainties. Uncertainties of material dataset modeling, variable material use and machine use have been identified. Furthermore, the variable material use influences the emissions of transport. The transport in turn demonstrates uncertainties in the transport distances. Last but not least, there are variable service life times that dictate the replacement cycles of the structures. LCA benchmarks can be derived by the elevation of the various uncertainty distributions and its application in a Monte Carlo simulation. Results and discussion: By applying the method described above, it was possible to develop LCA benchmarks for different types of torrent control structures. These benchmarks show the range of LCA results for these structures. Furthermore, a sensitivity and uncertainty contribution analysis was carried out to investigate dependencies. Conclusions: By determining the range of LCA results, an estimate of environmental impacts in early planning stages becomes possible. Furthermore, this allows decision-making in early planning stages and throughout the entire life cycle of the structures, taking into account environmental impacts. A further development of the benchmarks requires the analysis of additional structures to increase the accuracy and to reduce parameter uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilience is defined as the capacity of a system to cope with impacts by minimising their effects (through adaptation and mitigation). In practice, upstream measures on the causes, in terms of reducing the emissions or using resource more efficiently, should constitute the main action strategy for reducing the environmental impacts. The article describes the results of a research aiming at quantifing the average environmental impacts associated with the current housing stock in Europe through the construction of statistically-based representative models and the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. Knowledge of the characteristics and the environmental performances of the building stock – particularly the residential building stock – is of fundamental importance to establish effective policies and priority actions for the prevention of impacts and the strengthening of the resilience.

Resilience is defined as the capacity of a system to cope with impacts by minimising their effects (through adaptation and mitigation). In practice, upstream measures on the causes, in terms of reducing the emissions or using resource more efficiently, should constitute the main action strategy for reducing the environmental impacts. The article describes the results of a research aiming at quantifing the average environmental impacts associated with the current housing stock in Europe through the construction of statistically-based representative models and the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method. Knowledge of the characteristics and the environmental performances of the building stock - particularly the residential building stock - is of fundamental importance to establish effective policies and priority actions for the prevention of impacts and the strengthening of the resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]