Using Eco-Indicator 99 to Evaluate Building Technologies under Life Cycle Assessment Uncertainties

Abstract

The primary advantage offered by the Eco-indicator 99 (EI99) methodology is its ability to consider life cycle assessment (LCA) uncertainties. EI99 considers these uncertainties through a perspective-specified set that includes egalitarian/egalitarian (e/e), hierarchist/hierarchist (h/h), and individualist/individualist (i/i) methodological options, along with a perspective-averaged set that includes individualist/average (i/a), egalitarian/average (e/a), and hierarchist/average (h/a) methodological options. These two sets of options are based on a cultural theory framework that was initially intended for different areas of interest. The objective of this study was to determine the robustness of EI99 for the environmental evaluation of building technologies under LCA uncertainties. A split-unit design was used to determine the robustness of EI99 for evaluating four reinforced concrete technologies and four masonry structure technologies. A significant disordinal interaction was observed between the two methodological sets evaluated by EI99. The h/h and h/a options were considered to fall within the same area of interest. Different rankings for the building technologies were obtained using the different EI99 methodological options. A full set of EI99 methodological options should be used by building designers and practitioners to determine the impact of a preferred decision on the initial construction cost, the life-cycle cost, the embodied energy, occupant health, and resource and/or habitat conservation.