Valutare la qualità energetico-ambientale nell’edilizia

The building sector is one of the most important in terms of wealth and employment, but it also involves significant resource consumption and environmental impacts. In particular, it affects the energy balance and the greenhouse gas emissions in Europe. It is responsible for 50-60% of the natural resource consumption and for 40% of the total energy consumption in Europe, and this percentage will increase without strategies and actions aimed at enhancing the use of renewable energy resources. Therefore, the reduction of resource consumption and the minimization of environmental impacts have become in recent years the main goals in the design and construction of sustainable buildings (eco-design). The saving of raw materials, the use of renewable energy sources and eco-materials, the definition of new manufacturing technologies and the application of efficient air-conditioning systems in the indoor space are the requirements of the design methodology called "sustainable building" . In the following the authors present the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology and the scientific relevance of the LCA in the assessment of the energy and environmental performance of buildings. The application of LCA to buildings represents a reliable methodological tool to assess the eco-profile of buildings, technological plants, and materials.