The project IEA EBC Annex 72 is advancing the research already conducted within EBC Annexes 56 and 57. It broadens the scope of Annex 57 by including operational impacts of buildings in use and by addressing environmental impacts in addition to primary energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions.
The project is researching harmonization issues arising when applying LCA approaches on buildings. It functions as a platform to exchange experiences and knowledge within partner countries and to foster the application of LCA on buildings in countries with little experience yet.
The objectives of the projects:
•   establish a common methodology guideline to assess the life cycle based primary energy demand, greenhouse gas emissions and environmental impacts caused by buildings
•   establish methods for the development of specific environmental benchmarks for different types of buildings
•   derive regionally differentiated guidelines and tools for building design and planning such as BIM for architects and planners
•   establish a number of case studies, focused to allow for answering some of the research issues and for deriving empirical benchmarks
The outcomes of the project are available in the reports. Further information is compiled in the book IEA EBC Annex 72 Background Information: Assessing life cycle related impacts caused by buildings.