Sustainability based on LCM of residential dwellings: A case study in Catalonia, Spain

Life cycle management (LCM) can be applied to the whole construction process, thus making it possible to improve sustainability indicators and also minimize the environmental loads of the full building life cycle. To illustrate this, a case study has been carried out based on the application of the LCM approach to a typical Spanish Mediterranean house located in Barcelona with a total area of 160 m2 and a projected 50-year life span, which has been modeled according to the Spanish building technical code (CTE). The aim of this research is to use sustainability indicators in the pre-construction and operation (use and maintenance) phases and also to promote and support the adoption of the LCM within the construction industry. This paper concludes that regarding the significant environmental issue of climate change, there was a total emission of 2.34E03 kg CO2-Eq/m2 per 50 years, of which about 90.5% was during the operation phase (use 88.9% and maintenance 1.7%) and the pre-construction phase account for a total of 9.5%. In terms of this dwelling's environmental loads, the operation phase is the most critical because of the high environmental loads from energy consumption for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting, electrical appliances and cooking.Additionally, the findings of this study state that the appropriate combination of building materials, improvement in behaviors and patterns of cultural consumption, and the application of government codes would enhance decision-making in the construction industry. Therefore, there is no doubt that applying LCM to the full building life cycle is very important for reducing environmental loads and thereby improving sustainability indicators. Finally, this research will help develop guidelines based on LCM for the construction industry to assist stakeholders in improving customer patterns during the dwelling life cycle.