Sustainability

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Prof. Dr. Luis C. Dias

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Guest Editor

CeBER, Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, Av Dias da Silva 165, 3004‐512 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: multi-criteria decision analysis; group decision and negotiation; decision support systems

Prof. Dr. Fausto Freire

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: life-cycle assessment; eco-design; industrial ecology; circular economy; life-cycle sustainability assessment; sustainable energy systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The literature on sustainability assessment recognizes the importance of life-cycle assessment (LCA) as a means to encompass the impacts of a product, service or process, without burden shifting. LCA focuses on environmental impacts, but the life-cycle perspective is also used in social LCA and life-cycle costing, which addressed together result in the more comprehensive life-cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA).

As LCA, or more generally LCSA, yield multiple indicators concerning a potentially large number of impact categories, multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) has been used to provide a synthesis of the assessment. This is useful as a means to interpret and communicate results, as well as to support policy- and decision-makers.

This Special Issue intends to gather contributions addressing the combined use of MCDA and LC approaches, namely, concerning its current challenges, new proposals and real-world application. Topics of interest include:

- Discussing the role of MCDA in LCA/LCSA studies and vice versa;

- Novel MCDA methods or variants to be used together with LCA/LCSA;

- Synthetic indicators for LCA/LCSA;

- DEA and MCDA approaches to assess eco-efficiency;

- Elicitation of MCDA parameters, including participatory approaches;

- Multiobjective optimization and LCA/LCSA

- Studies combining MCDA and LCA/LCSA in industry;

- Studies combining MCDA and LCA/LCSA in public administration and policy making.

Prof. Dr. Luis C. Dias
Prof. Dr. Fausto Freire
Guest Editors

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Research

18 pages, 9525 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Method to Include Life Cycle Assessment Results in Choosing by Advantage (CBA) Multicriteria Decision Analysis. A Case Study for Seismic Retrofit in Peruvian Primary Schools

by Ian Vázquez-Rowe, Cristina Córdova-Arias, Xavier Brioso and Sandra Santa-Cruz

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8139; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158139 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5028

Abstract

Building information modeling (BIM) is an emerging technology that improves visualization, understanding, and transparency in construction projects. Its use in Latin America and the Caribbean (LA&C), while still scarce, is developing in combination with multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, such as the choosing by advantages (CBA) method. Despite the holistic nature of MCDM methods, the inclusion of life cycle environmental metrics is lagging in construction projects in LA&C. However, recent studies point toward the need to optimize the synergies between BIM and life cycle assessment (LCA), in which a method like CBA could allow improving the quality of the decisions. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to integrate LCA and CBA methods to identify the effect that the inclusion of environmental impacts can have on decision-making in public procurement, as well as comparing how this final decision differs from an exclusively LCA-oriented interpretation of the results. Once the LCA was performed, a set of additional criteria for the CBA method were fixed, including transparency, technical, and social indicators. Thereafter, a stakeholder participative workshop was held in order to gather experts to elucidate on the final decision. The methodology was applied to a relevant construction sector problem modelled with BIM in the city of Lima (Peru), which consisted of three different construction techniques needed to retrofit educational institutions. Results from the LCA-oriented assessment, which was supported by Monte Carlo simulation, revealed a situation in which the masonry-based technique showed significantly lower environmental impacts than the remaining two options. However, when a wider range of technical, social, and transparency criteria are added to the environmental indicators, this low-carbon technique only prevailed in those workshop tables in which environmental experts were present and under specific computational assumptions, whereas teams with a higher proportion of government members were inclined to foster alternatives that imply less bureaucratic barriers. Finally, the results constitute an important milestone when it comes to including environmental factors in public procurement in LA&C. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combining Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Life-Cycle Assessment: Challenges, Proposals, and Real-World Applications)

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