Selected Problems of the Environmental Impact Analysis of Investment Projects Based on Life Cycle Assessment Procedure

Abstract

The building objects show a wide variety. Among them, we can distinguish buildings and various building constructions. In addition to the fact that they are of various sizes, they perform different functions, while their purpose and use generates various problems, they can be made using various materials, different technologies and construction solutions. Therefore, the decision on which solutions to apply may be difficult to make. In this situation, it is good to develop several alternative solutions for their comprehensive comparison. In addition, the existing regulations that originate in the EU directives, in many cases impose the obligation to develop several variants of future investments and analyze them taking into account many factors. In the EU recommendations, the analysis related to the impact of construction investments on the environment is of highest importance. The ISO 14040–1404X regulations created and introduced by the European Union are the most important tool for a global assessment of the environmental impact of a product, facility and service. They relate to the environmental impact assessment of the entire Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and their assumption is to identify and minimize any environmental impacts that may arise from the production, use and disposal of the product. Research should include specific stages according to the LCA evaluation system: determination of the purpose and scope of the assessment, inventory of input and output data and the impact assessment. The following research methods were used: source materials analysis, library query, advanced data collection methods through online surveys, LCA assessment, multicriterial methods. The research conducted by the author showed that the analysis involving selected problems related to the object-environment interaction is dominant. However, in practice it is difficult to find the analyses covering the entire lifecycle of an object in accordance with the LCA procedure and examples of comparison of specific design solutions within the variant assessment procedure taking into account the LCA procedure. The aim of the article is to show how such procedure can look while comparing the exemplary variants of a construction project. The article presents an example and diagrams of conduct covering the whole life cycle of an object, and the analysis is based on specific examples.