Establishing environmental benchmarks to determine the environmental performance of elementary school buildings using LCA

•LCA of 23 elementary school buildings was conducted to establish benchmarks.•Influence factors on 9 environmental impacts were derived via statistical analysis.•For 9 environmental impacts, benchmarks considering these factors were established.•For instance, the benchmark for HCP was 8.71E − 08 casescan/m2.•Benchmarks are useful to determine environmental impact reduction of new buildings.

Benchmarks are required to determine the environmental performance of new buildings. Through LCA, this study assessed the environmental impacts of 23 elementary school buildings in South Korea. By conducting statistical analysis (Pearson correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis, and Mann-Whitney test), gross floor area, latitude, and longitude were influence factors which cause the differences in environmental impacts among buildings. The differences in environmental impacts by gross floor area can be considered by defining the functional unit as one square meter of floor area. The differences in environmental impacts by region can be considered after dividing 23 elementary school buildings according to latitude and longitude. Based on the results of the two-step cluster analysis and the Mann-Whitney test on latitude and longitude, the environmental impacts of 23 elementary school buildings were divided into two clusters, with the exception of human carcinogenic potential and human non-carcinogenic potential. Therefore, this study presented the benchmarks in two clusters. For instance, the benchmarks for global warming potential in Clusters One and Two were 3.70E + 03 and 2.53E + 03 kg-CO2 eq./m2, respectively. The benchmark for the human carcinogenic potential was 8.63E − 08 casescan/m2. The benchmarks are expected to be used in determining the environmental performance of new elementary school buildings.