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Prof. Dr. Karen Allacker
KU Leuven. Department of Architecture. Kasteelpark Arenberg 1 - box 2431. 3001 Leuven. Belgium

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Urban Sustainability
0 Building sustainability assessment
0 Life cycle assessment, renovation of the building stock
0 Circularity on the built environment
0 Climate-resilient building, architecture

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Life cycle assessment, renovation of the building stock

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Journal article
Published: 09 March 2021 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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The operational energy use is responsible for an important share of the life cycle environmental impact of buildings. In the national LCA method for buildings in Belgium, as in most environmental impact assessments, operational energy use and associated impacts are kept unchanged throughout the 60-year service life of the building. The energy mix will however change over the building life cycle and this will influence the impact of the operational energy use. The overall aim of this paper is to analyse how long term temporal changes in the electricity mix in Belgium might influence the life cycle environmental impact of buildings using an attributional approach. This paper focuses on three aspects. First, it analyses future scenarios for the Belgian electricity mix as it is uncertain how it will change over time. Second, the environmental impact of these changes in the mix is evaluated using the Belgian life cycle impact assessment method for buildings considering a broad set of indicators. Finally, it is investigated how these changes in the electricity mix during the building service life can be included in the attributional life cycle assessment and how this influences the overall environmental impact of the operational phase. Within this study, three dynamic scenarios are defined and compared with the static approach, i.e. current electricity mix remains unchanged during the next 60 years. The analysis reveals differences in the building life cycle environmental impact of −29% and +34% compared to the current static approach, while differences in the life cycle carbon footprint range from −59% to +33%. This highlights the importance of considering changes in the electricity mix in LCA of buildings and in considering a broad range of environmental indicators instead of solely focussing on greenhouse gas emissions when making policy decisions. In general, a major challenge for the next decade seems to be phasing out nuclear power, without increasing the environmental impact of the electricity mix.

ACS Style

Delphine Ramon; Karen Allacker. Integrating long term temporal changes in the Belgian electricity mix in environmental attributional life cycle assessment of buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 297, 126624 .

AMA Style

Delphine Ramon, Karen Allacker. Integrating long term temporal changes in the Belgian electricity mix in environmental attributional life cycle assessment of buildings. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2021; 297 ():126624.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Delphine Ramon; Karen Allacker. 2021. "Integrating long term temporal changes in the Belgian electricity mix in environmental attributional life cycle assessment of buildings." Journal of Cleaner Production 297, no. : 126624.

Journal article
Published: 07 January 2021 in Buildings and Cities
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ACS Style

Nadia Mirabella; Karen Allacker. Urban GHG accounting: discrepancies, constraints and opportunities. Buildings and Cities 2021, 2, 21 .

AMA Style

Nadia Mirabella, Karen Allacker. Urban GHG accounting: discrepancies, constraints and opportunities. Buildings and Cities. 2021; 2 (1):21.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nadia Mirabella; Karen Allacker. 2021. "Urban GHG accounting: discrepancies, constraints and opportunities." Buildings and Cities 2, no. 1: 21.

Journal article
Published: 12 August 2020 in Buildings and Cities
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ACS Style

Endrit Hoxha; Alexander Passer; Marcella Ruschi Mendes Saade; Damien Trigaux; Amie Shuttleworth; Francesco Pittau; Karen Allacker; Guillaume Habert. Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods. Buildings and Cities 2020, 1, 504 -524.

AMA Style

Endrit Hoxha, Alexander Passer, Marcella Ruschi Mendes Saade, Damien Trigaux, Amie Shuttleworth, Francesco Pittau, Karen Allacker, Guillaume Habert. Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods. Buildings and Cities. 2020; 1 (1):504-524.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Endrit Hoxha; Alexander Passer; Marcella Ruschi Mendes Saade; Damien Trigaux; Amie Shuttleworth; Francesco Pittau; Karen Allacker; Guillaume Habert. 2020. "Biogenic carbon in buildings: a critical overview of LCA methods." Buildings and Cities 1, no. 1: 504-524.

Journal article
Published: 22 July 2020 in Buildings and Cities
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ACS Style

Guillaume Habert; Martin Röck; Karl Steininger; Antonin Lupísek; Harpa Birgisdottir; Harald Desing; Chanjief Chandrakumar; Francesco Pittau; Alexander Passer; Ronald Rovers; Katarina Slavkovic; Alexander Hollberg; Endrit Hoxha; Thomas Jusselme; Emilie Nault; Karen Allacker; Thomas Lützkendorf. Carbon budgets for buildings: harmonising temporal, spatial and sectoral dimensions. Buildings and Cities 2020, 1, 429 -452.

AMA Style

Guillaume Habert, Martin Röck, Karl Steininger, Antonin Lupísek, Harpa Birgisdottir, Harald Desing, Chanjief Chandrakumar, Francesco Pittau, Alexander Passer, Ronald Rovers, Katarina Slavkovic, Alexander Hollberg, Endrit Hoxha, Thomas Jusselme, Emilie Nault, Karen Allacker, Thomas Lützkendorf. Carbon budgets for buildings: harmonising temporal, spatial and sectoral dimensions. Buildings and Cities. 2020; 1 (1):429-452.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Guillaume Habert; Martin Röck; Karl Steininger; Antonin Lupísek; Harpa Birgisdottir; Harald Desing; Chanjief Chandrakumar; Francesco Pittau; Alexander Passer; Ronald Rovers; Katarina Slavkovic; Alexander Hollberg; Endrit Hoxha; Thomas Jusselme; Emilie Nault; Karen Allacker; Thomas Lützkendorf. 2020. "Carbon budgets for buildings: harmonising temporal, spatial and sectoral dimensions." Buildings and Cities 1, no. 1: 429-452.

Journal article
Published: 16 July 2020 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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Wood cascade systems composed of products with long service lives can contribute to carbon storage, resource efficiency and circular economy. The environmental assessment of such multi-output systems is however challenging due to (i) multiple products and recycling steps, and (ii) the distribution of emissions, particularly of biogenic CO2, over long time spans. In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the former is usually dealt through end-of-life (EoL) allocation methods, while the latter is assessed via biogenic carbon accounting (BCA) methods. This article aims to assess how different BCA and EoL allocation methods may influence the LCA results of wood cascade systems, particularly their biogenic carbon footprint (BCF), both at supply chain and product levels. Six BCA methods and five EoL allocation methods were analysed, combined and applied to a wood cascade system delivering multiple products: (1) flooring, (4) particleboard (PB) and (5) electricity (reference flow: 1 m3 wood). At supply chain level (prior to the application of EoL allocation methods), distinct BCFs were obtained ranging from -211 to +52 kgCO2eq/m3 of wood (as input). At product level, when applying the different EoL allocation methods, the variability further increased. For instance, the BCF of PB ranged from -5.61 to +0.04 kgCO2eq/kgPB; while the BCF of electricity ranged from -0.50 to +0.39 kgCO2eq/kWh (considering results within the 25-75 percentiles). Other factors influencing the results were the assumptions regarding the timing of forest growth, the stage in the cascade chain, the recycling content and the EoL scenario. A proper understanding of the influence of the BCA and EoL allocation methods and their assumptions on the BCF of wood cascading products is key, especially for countries/regions promoting a circular economy.

ACS Style

Rita Garcia; Rodrigo A.F. Alvarenga; Sophie Huysveld; Jo Dewulf; Karen Allacker. Accounting for biogenic carbon and end-of-life allocation in life cycle assessment of multi-output wood cascade systems. Journal of Cleaner Production 2020, 275, 122795 .

AMA Style

Rita Garcia, Rodrigo A.F. Alvarenga, Sophie Huysveld, Jo Dewulf, Karen Allacker. Accounting for biogenic carbon and end-of-life allocation in life cycle assessment of multi-output wood cascade systems. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2020; 275 ():122795.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rita Garcia; Rodrigo A.F. Alvarenga; Sophie Huysveld; Jo Dewulf; Karen Allacker. 2020. "Accounting for biogenic carbon and end-of-life allocation in life cycle assessment of multi-output wood cascade systems." Journal of Cleaner Production 275, no. : 122795.

Conference paper
Published: 23 June 2020 in Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA
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ACS Style

Nazanin Eisazadeh; Karen Allacker; Frank De Troyer. The Impact Of Window Systems On Daylighting Performance, Visual Comfort And Energy Efficiency In Patient Rooms. Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA 2020, 1 .

AMA Style

Nazanin Eisazadeh, Karen Allacker, Frank De Troyer. The Impact Of Window Systems On Daylighting Performance, Visual Comfort And Energy Efficiency In Patient Rooms. Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA. 2020; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nazanin Eisazadeh; Karen Allacker; Frank De Troyer. 2020. "The Impact Of Window Systems On Daylighting Performance, Visual Comfort And Energy Efficiency In Patient Rooms." Proceedings of Building Simulation 2019: 16th Conference of IBPSA , no. : 1.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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The operational energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions of buildings are typically influenced by changes during the building service life such as climate change, technological evolution and energy mix evolution. Only few LCA studies consider these temporal variations. This paper investigates how climate change is currently considered in LCA studies. Three aspects related to the influence of climate change on the life cycle impact of buildings are focused on: (1) changes in operational energy use (heating and cooling) due to changes in the climatic context of the building, (2) changes in operational energy use due to technological evolution or climate regulations and (3) changes in energy mix due to climate regulations. All three influence the energy use and related environmental impact but the extent of the effect depends on the considered region, time step and environmental indicators. It is hence recommended to choose an appropriate time period when considering climate change in LCA and consider variations within a time period via dynamic building simulations or to include a static correction. A holistic set of impact categories should be focussed on to avoid burden shifting and the most influencing parameters should be checked via a sensitivity analysis.

ACS Style

D Ramon; Karen Allacker. Integrating climate change in life cycle assessment of buildings: literature review. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012064 .

AMA Style

D Ramon, Karen Allacker. Integrating climate change in life cycle assessment of buildings: literature review. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012064.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D Ramon; Karen Allacker. 2019. "Integrating climate change in life cycle assessment of buildings: literature review." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012064.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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The current renovation rate in Belgium is less than 1% and should be increased to 2, 5% to reach the European targets to reduce the GHG emissions by 2050. There is a need to rapidly increase the renovation rate and at the same time guarantee that these renovations reduce the environmental impact on our planet. In order to define environmental benchmarks for existing buildings and their renovation targets, a better understanding of the existing building stock is needed. In this paper, the approach used to model the existing building stock is presented for the specific case of Leuven. The methodological steps, challenges and data gaps are presented in detail. The proposed building stock model uses GIS data in order to gain insights in the geospatial distribution of the impacts of the stock. These spatial maps moreover allow to clearly visualise the impacts which can improve communication and contribute to policy actions.

ACS Style

E Verellen; Karen Allacker. Inventory of the existing residential building stock for the purpose of environmental benchmarking. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012029 .

AMA Style

E Verellen, Karen Allacker. Inventory of the existing residential building stock for the purpose of environmental benchmarking. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012029.

Chicago/Turabian Style

E Verellen; Karen Allacker. 2019. "Inventory of the existing residential building stock for the purpose of environmental benchmarking." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012029.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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To reduce the environmental impact of the building sector, environmental targets should be defined considering the full life cycle of buildings. In recent years various benchmarks based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have been developed as part of regulations, labelling systems and sustainability rating tools. This paper presents the results of a critical analysis of six existing benchmarking systems. An overview is given of the different benchmark approaches, scope, applications and communication. The strengths and weaknesses of the various systems are highlighted. Based on the analysis, recommendations are formulated for the development of future LCA benchmarks for the building sector.

ACS Style

D Trigaux; Karen Allacker; W Debacker. Critical analysis of environmental benchmarks for buildings. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012031 .

AMA Style

D Trigaux, Karen Allacker, W Debacker. Critical analysis of environmental benchmarks for buildings. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012031.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D Trigaux; Karen Allacker; W Debacker. 2019. "Critical analysis of environmental benchmarks for buildings." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012031.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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Recently, Level(s) has been developed by the European Commission as a common EU framework to assess sustainability of buildings with the intention to provide a consistent and comparable framework across national boundaries. It aims at providing a general language for sustainability for buildings and to promote life cycle thinking. This paper describes the application and results of a Level 1 assessment for the design stage of a Flemish office building. Level 1 is a common performance assessment which aims to be used amongst others by building professionals. Common standards and simplified methods are used for the indicators. The paper focusses on the experiences of testing the method by evaluating the user-friendliness of the assessment method for architects considering the information and calculations needed. The added value of applying the methodology in the design stage is furthermore discussed. Based on the test phase, further improvement is recommended by aligning current national tools for data gathering and by providing default values. A Level 1 assessment allows to gain insights in various performances of a building but does not aim to evaluate the "sustainability" level. A level 2 assessment is probably more useful for practitioners to make well-founded choices between different design options.

ACS Style

D Ramon; C Pironnet; Karen Allacker. Sustainability assessment of a Flemish office building with Level(s): a Level 1 assessment. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012041 .

AMA Style

D Ramon, C Pironnet, Karen Allacker. Sustainability assessment of a Flemish office building with Level(s): a Level 1 assessment. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012041.

Chicago/Turabian Style

D Ramon; C Pironnet; Karen Allacker. 2019. "Sustainability assessment of a Flemish office building with Level(s): a Level 1 assessment." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012041.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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Hospitals produce high amounts of emissions due to their continuous operation, high flow of people, and intensive HVAC requirements. In order to reduce the environmental footprint of hospitals, it is crucial to improve energy performance while still maintaining a comfortable indoor environment for the occupants. Also to avoid high environmental burdens, it is important to understand the impact of building material selection from the full life cycle perspective. Window systems influence the energy loads and comfort in buildings and provide access to daylight and views. Therefore, windows contribute significantly to the energy consumption and indoor environmental quality of buildings and impact the well-being of occupants. The aim of this study is to determine the influence of various window system design configurations on the environmental performance of patient rooms in Belgium through life cycle assessment (LCA). The method is innovative as it combines dynamic energy simulations and daylight analysis and integrates these in the LCA study of the window systems. The influence of several components is investigated, such as the choice of glazing and shading system. The results are analysed and compared in terms of energy cost for heating, cooling, and lighting, daylighting performance and life cycle environmental impacts. A typical patient room from a hospital design in Belgium is used as a case study. Based on comparative analysis, the paper discusses potential window system design configurations that allow for energy efficient, daylit and environmentally-friendly patient rooms.

ACS Style

N Eisazadeh; F De Troyer; Karen Allacker. Environmental performance of window systems in patient rooms: a case study in the Belgian context. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012151 .

AMA Style

N Eisazadeh, F De Troyer, Karen Allacker. Environmental performance of window systems in patient rooms: a case study in the Belgian context. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012151.

Chicago/Turabian Style

N Eisazadeh; F De Troyer; Karen Allacker. 2019. "Environmental performance of window systems in patient rooms: a case study in the Belgian context." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012151.

Conference paper
Published: 06 September 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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The construction sector is facing an important challenge to reduce its resource consumption. A promising strategy is to reduce the need of virgin resources by using the existing building stock as a resource mine. Various insights are needed to enable this. It should be clear how many materials are in the stock, when these will become available and to what extent these can be reclaimed in an environmentally and economically viable way. For this purpose a spatio-temporal building stock model is being developed and tested on the city of Leuven, Belgium. In a next step it will be assessed how these flows can be reclaimed in an environmentally and economically viable way. This paper provides a review on the methods used for building stock modelling and proposes improvements on the bottom-up archetypes scaling method. Building parameters relevant to material reuse and are introduced and a new methodology for upscaling is presented, using two data analysis techniques: a clustering algorithm and an artificial neural network.

ACS Style

A Lismont; K Allacker. Turning the existing building stock into a resource mine: proposal for a new method to develop building stock models. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 323, 012070 .

AMA Style

A Lismont, K Allacker. Turning the existing building stock into a resource mine: proposal for a new method to develop building stock models. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 323 (1):012070.

Chicago/Turabian Style

A Lismont; K Allacker. 2019. "Turning the existing building stock into a resource mine: proposal for a new method to develop building stock models." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 323, no. 1: 012070.

Conference paper
Published: 21 June 2019 in IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science
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With the increasing awareness of sustainable design "operational energy use", "life cycle environmental impact" and "comfort" are becoming key considerations for design decisions. These three aspects are usually not explored in an integrated way in the early design stage. During this stage however, most far-reaching design decisions are made and the greatest potential to achieve sustainable building designs in a cost-efficient way exists. Hence energy efficiency, environmental performance and comfort should be considered as a fundamental part of early design stage decisions. This paper investigates the influence of various patient room design options on the energy cost, life cycle environmental impact and daylighting. The design parameters investigated are the room geometry, type of glazing and WWR (Window-to-Wall Ratio). The analysis is performed for a case study in Belgium, more specifically a patient room in a hospital design. The existing design is taken as a baseline scenario and via parametric analysis, the influence of alternative design strategies is analysed. Based on the comparative analysis, the paper discusses potential design strategies that allow for energy efficient and environmentally-friendly patient rooms that fulfil comfort requirements for patients.

ACS Style

N Eisazadeh; Karen Allacker; F De Troyer. Window Design Strategies for Environmentally Friendly and Energy Efficient Patient Rooms: A Case Study in the Belgian Context. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 2019, 290, 012074 .

AMA Style

N Eisazadeh, Karen Allacker, F De Troyer. Window Design Strategies for Environmentally Friendly and Energy Efficient Patient Rooms: A Case Study in the Belgian Context. IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science. 2019; 290 (1):012074.

Chicago/Turabian Style

N Eisazadeh; Karen Allacker; F De Troyer. 2019. "Window Design Strategies for Environmentally Friendly and Energy Efficient Patient Rooms: A Case Study in the Belgian Context." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 290, no. 1: 012074.

Journal article
Published: 07 February 2019 in Sustainability
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With the aim of moving towards a more sustainable society, hospital buildings are challenged to decrease their environmental impact while continuing to offer affordable and qualitative medical care. The aim of this paper was to gain insight into the main drivers of the environmental impacts and costs of healthcare facilities, and to identify methodological obstacles for a quantitative assessment. More specifically, the objective was to assess the environmental and financial impacts of the general hospital Sint Maarten in Mechelen (Belgium) by using a life cycle approach. The hospital building was analyzed based on a combination of a simplified life cycle assessment and life cycle costing. The “MMG+_KULeuven” assessment tool was used for the calculation of environmental impacts and financial costs. The study revealed that the environmental impact was mainly caused by electricity use for appliances and lighting, cleaning processes, material production, and spatial heating, while building construction and electricity use caused the highest financial costs. The most relevant impact categories identified were global warming, eutrophication, acidification, human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer effects), and particulate matter. Various methodological challenges were identified, such as the adaptation of existing methods to ensure applicability to hospital buildings and the extraction of data from a Revit model.

ACS Style

Milena Stevanovic; Karen Allacker; Stéphane Vermeulen. Development of an Approach to Assess the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of General Hospitals through the Analysis of a Belgian Case. Sustainability 2019, 11, 856 .

AMA Style

Milena Stevanovic, Karen Allacker, Stéphane Vermeulen. Development of an Approach to Assess the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of General Hospitals through the Analysis of a Belgian Case. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (3):856.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Milena Stevanovic; Karen Allacker; Stéphane Vermeulen. 2019. "Development of an Approach to Assess the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts and Costs of General Hospitals through the Analysis of a Belgian Case." Sustainability 11, no. 3: 856.

Journal article
Published: 27 December 2018 in Journal of Cleaner Production
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Due to the growing population, the revived trend of living in urban areas and the scarcity of building plots, the idea of vertically extending existing residential buildings is gaining popularity in Belgium. Timber frame constructions are appropriate due to their light weight and lack of point loads. This article aims to assess (1) the potential environmental impact reduction of light-weight timber frame constructions for rooftop extensions by changing composition and dimensions and (2) the effect of biogenic carbon. Timber frame walls and roofs are analyzed based on the life-cycle assessment method. Starting from the current building practice in Flanders, various parameters are assessed. The effect of using I-joists instead of solid studs, of adjusting the center-to-center distance between the studs and of changing materials for different layers is analyzed. The results showed a limited environmental impact reduction of using I-joist instead of solid studs and of adjusting the center-to-center distance. Changing the composition of the walls and roofs in terms of materials can lead to a total life-cycle environmental reduction of 22% and 14%, respectively. If biogenic carbon accounting is integrated in the assessment method, based on the ILCD method, the total life-cycle environmental impact is reduced by up to 35% and can lead to significant differences in the preferred choice of timber frame composition.

ACS Style

L. Wijnants; K. Allacker; F. De Troyer. Life-cycle assessment of timber frame constructions – The case of rooftop extensions. Journal of Cleaner Production 2018, 216, 333 -345.

AMA Style

L. Wijnants, K. Allacker, F. De Troyer. Life-cycle assessment of timber frame constructions – The case of rooftop extensions. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2018; 216 ():333-345.

Chicago/Turabian Style

L. Wijnants; K. Allacker; F. De Troyer. 2018. "Life-cycle assessment of timber frame constructions – The case of rooftop extensions." Journal of Cleaner Production 216, no. : 333-345.

Building components and buildings
Published: 14 December 2018 in The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment
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Energy consumption of buildings is one of the major drivers of environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) may support the assessment of burdens and benefits associated to eco-innovations aiming at reducing these environmental impacts. Energy efficiency policies however typically focus on the meso- or macro-scale, while interventions are typically taken at the micro-scale. This paper presents an approach that bridges this gap by using the results of energy simulations and LCA studies at the building level to estimate the effect of micro-scale eco-innovations on the macro-scale, i.e. the housing stock in Europe. LCA and dynamic energy simulations are integrated to accurately assess the life cycle environmental burdens and benefits of eco-innovation measures at the building level. This allows quantitatively assessing the effectiveness of these measures to lower the energy use and environmental impact of buildings. The analysis at this micro-scale focuses on 24 representative residential buildings within the EU. For the upscaling to the EU housing stock, a hybrid approach is used. The results of the micro-scale analysis are upscaled to the EU housing stock scale by adopting the eco-innovation measures to (part of) the EU building stock (bottom–up approach) and extrapolating the relative impact reduction obtained for the reference buildings to the baseline stock model. The reference buildings in the baseline stock model have been developed by European Commission-Joint Research Centre based on a statistical analysis (top–down approach) of the European housing stock. The method is used to evaluate five scenarios covering various aspects: building components (building envelope insulation), technical installations (renewable energy), user behaviour (night setback of the setpoint temperature), and a combined scenario. Results show that the proposed combination of bottom–up and top–down approaches allow accurately assessing the impact of eco-innovation measures at the macro-scale. The results indicate that a combination of policy measures is necessary to lower the environmental impacts of the building stock to a significative extent. Interventions addressing energy efficiency at building level may lead to the need of a trade-off between resource efficiency and environmental impacts. LCA integrated with dynamic energy simulation may help unveiling the potential improvements and burdens associated to eco-innovations.

ACS Style

Karen Allacker; Valentina Castellani; Giorgio Baldinelli; Francesco Bianchi; Catia Baldassarri; Serenella Sala. Energy simulation and LCA for macro-scale analysis of eco-innovations in the housing stock. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 2018, 24, 989 -1008.

AMA Style

Karen Allacker, Valentina Castellani, Giorgio Baldinelli, Francesco Bianchi, Catia Baldassarri, Serenella Sala. Energy simulation and LCA for macro-scale analysis of eco-innovations in the housing stock. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2018; 24 (6):989-1008.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Karen Allacker; Valentina Castellani; Giorgio Baldinelli; Francesco Bianchi; Catia Baldassarri; Serenella Sala. 2018. "Energy simulation and LCA for macro-scale analysis of eco-innovations in the housing stock." The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 24, no. 6: 989-1008.

Chapter
Published: 10 November 2018 in Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies
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Urban planning decisions related to the urban form, built density and neighbourhood location may affect the sustainability of neighbourhoods to an important extent. This chapter investigates the influence of urban planning on the financial and environmental impact of neighbourhoods. A number of schematic neighbourhood models with various layouts and built densities are analysed using an integrated life cycle approach, combining Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA). Furthermore, the influence of the neighbourhood location is assessed by comparing the impact of a rural and urban location. The results reveal substantial impact differences (up to 20–25%) between the neighbourhoods, showing the importance of good urban planning to decrease the financial and environmental impact of the built environment. The main reasons for these variations are the lower primary land use, lower energy use for heating and lower material use in high built-density neighbourhoods and compact buildings. Also, the neighbourhood location proved to be a key parameter to decrease the impact of user transport in neighbourhoods, with impact reductions up to 25–30% in an urban area.

ACS Style

Damien Trigaux; Karen Allacker; Frank De Troyer. Modelling the Influence of Urban Planning on the Financial and Environmental Impact of Neighbourhoods. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies 2018, 17 -37.

AMA Style

Damien Trigaux, Karen Allacker, Frank De Troyer. Modelling the Influence of Urban Planning on the Financial and Environmental Impact of Neighbourhoods. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies. 2018; ():17-37.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Damien Trigaux; Karen Allacker; Frank De Troyer. 2018. "Modelling the Influence of Urban Planning on the Financial and Environmental Impact of Neighbourhoods." Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies , no. : 17-37.

Chapter
Published: 10 November 2018 in Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies
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As buildings have a relatively long life span, it is important to consider climate change in energy performance modelling. Good quality weather data are needed to obtain accurate results. This chapter discusses widely used methods to predict future weather data (dynamical downscaling, stochastic weather generators and morphing) and provides an overview of available weather datasets (multi-year, typical years, extreme years and representative years) for building simulations. A Flemish office building is used for a comparative analysis of the estimated heating and cooling load making use of 1-year weather files (typical and extreme future climate conditions) derived from a recently developed convection-permitting climate model for Belgium. Climate models and weather generators are identified as the most preferred for the estimation of the average energy consumption and thermal comfort in average and extreme situations. Climate models have the advantage to better represent extreme weather events and climate differences due to territorial settings, while weather generators can generate multiple climate realizations. A combination of a typical year with an extreme cold and extreme warm year was found to result in an overall good representation of the energy need for heating and cooling in average and extreme weather conditions. Further, the influence of the methodological choices to extract 1-year weather files (typical or extreme years) from the 30-year climate data is highlighted as different results were obtained when different meteorological variables were considered for the creation of the 1-year files.

ACS Style

Delphine Ramon; Karen Allacker; Nicole P. M. Van Lipzig; Frank De Troyer; Hendrik Wouters. Future Weather Data for Dynamic Building Energy Simulations: Overview of Available Data and Presentation of Newly Derived Data for Belgium. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies 2018, 111 -138.

AMA Style

Delphine Ramon, Karen Allacker, Nicole P. M. Van Lipzig, Frank De Troyer, Hendrik Wouters. Future Weather Data for Dynamic Building Energy Simulations: Overview of Available Data and Presentation of Newly Derived Data for Belgium. Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies. 2018; ():111-138.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Delphine Ramon; Karen Allacker; Nicole P. M. Van Lipzig; Frank De Troyer; Hendrik Wouters. 2018. "Future Weather Data for Dynamic Building Energy Simulations: Overview of Available Data and Presentation of Newly Derived Data for Belgium." Applications of Paleoenvironmental Techniques in Estuarine Studies , no. : 111-138.

Proceedings article
Published: 30 October 2018 in Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies
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ACS Style

S. Mouton; Karen Allacker; K. Ghavami; H. Verschure. Durability Analysis of a Bamboo Community Center in Cambury, Brazil. Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies 2018, 1 .

AMA Style

S. Mouton, Karen Allacker, K. Ghavami, H. Verschure. Durability Analysis of a Bamboo Community Center in Cambury, Brazil. Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies. 2018; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. Mouton; Karen Allacker; K. Ghavami; H. Verschure. 2018. "Durability Analysis of a Bamboo Community Center in Cambury, Brazil." Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies , no. : 1.

Proceedings article
Published: 30 October 2018 in Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies
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ACS Style

S. Mouton; Karen Allacker; K. Ghavami; H. Verschure. Application of Small Diameter Bamboos in Architecture. Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies 2018, 1 .

AMA Style

S. Mouton, Karen Allacker, K. Ghavami, H. Verschure. Application of Small Diameter Bamboos in Architecture. Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies. 2018; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

S. Mouton; Karen Allacker; K. Ghavami; H. Verschure. 2018. "Application of Small Diameter Bamboos in Architecture." Non-Conventional Materials and Technologies , no. : 1.