By Nidhi DhullReviewed by Susha Cheriyedath, M.Sc.Dec 18 2024A recent article published in Buildings introduced an innovative method to simultaneously evaluate material waste and environmental impacts by integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). The goal was to optimize the material efficiency in construction projects using LCA and TOPSIS.
Study: LCA-TOPSIS Integration for Minimizing Material Waste in the Construction Sector: A BIM-Based Decision-Making. Image Credit: Stanislau Valynkin/Shutterstock.com
Background
LCA is an important instrument for implementing sustainable construction management practices. It contributes to the more environmentally friendly and efficient management of projects by assessing the environmental impacts of materials throughout their entire life cycle.
Meanwhile, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods enable a balanced consideration of environmental, economic, and technical criteria throughout the construction process. TOPSIS is a widely used MCDM method that measures the distance of alternatives from the ideal solution, helping to identify the optimal choice in each case.
LCA and TOPSIS are powerful and complementary approaches for material selection in construction projects. While LCA offers a comprehensive assessment of a material’s environmental impact throughout its life cycle, TOPSIS enables strategic decision-making by balancing environmental sustainability with cost-effectiveness.
Therefore, this study proposed integrating LCA and TOPSIS to assess the environmental effects of building materials wastage during construction.
Methods
A field study was conducted on a residential building in Turkey, monitoring it throughout its construction from May 2022 to April 2024 and recording the materials used.
The LCA analysis was conducted using Autodesk Tally 2023 integrated with building information modeling (BIM) via the four fundamental stages. The first stage, Goal and Scope Definition, was aimed at assessing the environmental impacts related to material waste and developing strategies for minimizing these impacts across a projected building lifespan of 50 years.
During the Inventory Analysis stage, data on material types, quantities, and construction processes were collected using the BIM model and quantified as inputs and outputs using Autodesk Tally. The subsequent Impact Assessment stage involved calculating environmental impacts, such as global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential, and energy demand, using the Tally methodology according to the relevant LCA standards.
In the final Interpretation stage, the materials with maximum environmental impacts were identified, guiding targeted interventions to minimize these effects. Subsequently, the TOPSIS method was applied to determine materials requiring maximum intervention based on environmental impact and material waste and calculate the distance of each alternative from the ideal solution during material selection.
Results and Discussion
The in-depth analysis of various material categories revealed the prominent environmental impact of concrete materials, accounting for 58% to 80% of the overall environmental impact. Additionally, finishes, including plaster, paint, ceramic tile, and stone tile, accounted for 13% to 33% of the environmental impact. These were followed by the openings and glazing categories in all parameters except for the GWP assessment, which was led by the masonry category.
Considering the environmental impact distributions of the materials, the cast-in-place concrete with 5000 psi material had a maximum impact in the concrete category. Alternatively, the stone tile was identified as the material with the most prominent negative environmental impact in the “finishes” category.
Two scenarios were designed to optimize both environmental impacts and material waste. While the first scenario had a 50% weight assigned to material waste for reducing project costs and environmental impacts through waste management, the second scenario had a 40% weight assigned to GWP to align with global climate targets.
In the first scenario, the TOPSIS analysis revealed the highest score of laminated wood (0.5559), followed by cast-in-place concrete, 5000 psi (0.5026), stone tile (0.4679), and ceramic tile (0.4280). Thus, reducing material waste would reduce environmental impacts by significantly reducing natural resource use and energy consumption.
In the second scenario, cast-in-place concrete with 5000 psi (0.7349) received the highest score, proving to be the most critical material concerning GWP and carbon emissions during production. Therefore, replacing concrete with alternative materials or making it more sustainable could significantly mitigate environmental impacts and lower carbon emissions, facilitating sustainable construction.
Conclusion
Overall, this study comprehensively examined the impact of material waste during the construction process using LCA and evaluated the role of the TOPSIS MCDM in improving resource efficiency. A detailed comparison of material usage scenarios was performed during the design and construction phases to analyze the impact of these strategies on material efficiency and sustainability.
The findings exhibited that reducing material waste enhances environmental performance and efficient resource utilization. Additionally, the LCA-TOPSIS integration demonstrated that targeted interventions for materials prone to waste can considerably reduce the environmental footprint across the production, use, and disposal stages.
TOPSIS proved to be effective for identifying and prioritizing materials requiring intervention, thus improving resource efficiency and operational performance. Despite the focus on specific material categories and scenarios, the proposed method offers a flexible and adaptable framework applicable to various construction projects for reducing material waste and improving environmental performance.
Journal Reference
Yardimci, Y. & Kurucay, E. (2024). LCA-TOPSIS Integration for Minimizing Material Waste in the Construction Sector: A BIM-Based Decision-Making. Buildings, 14(12), 3919. DOI: 10.3390/buildings14123919, https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/14/12/3919
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