Statistical cluster analysis as a means to complement LCA of buildings

Paper in proceeding, 2012

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models, generated for evaluating the environmental impact of buildings, usually allow for an abstracted view on one or more individual buildings. However, in order to optimise the LCA procedure in the future, it would be a prerequisite to rather model “typical” buildings instead of individual ones. As each building is a unique and complex system, the existing approach to LCA modeling needs adaptation when trying to establish a generic alternative model for “typical” buildings. This paper introduces a new approach to complement LCA modeling, suggesting the application of statistical cluster analysis to enable classification of buildings according to the immanent similarity in their individual characteristics.