Applications of the life cycle assessment method with the aim of energy conservation in the construction industry

Nowadays, there has been an increasing interest in the study of life cycle assessment in all industries namely the construction industry in developed countries with the increasing awareness of the environmental effects of buildings and the emergence of powerful tools for their evaluation. Despite various articles have been published in different countries in this field, none of them has focused on the challenges of using life cycle assessment, related studies, and potential solutions to address the challenges. The purpose of this article is to present a systematic report of a comprehensive review of applied studies in the life cycle assessment method in the construction industry to provide a potential solution for future targeted research in this field. The research method of this paper included a brief review of the subject literature to provide an overview of the life cycle assessment method and systematic selection and study of review articles/books to examine the benefits and challenges of life cycle assessment research. By examining the valid research articles from 2000 to 2023 in the collection of ISI articles and Persian scientific research articles, a total of 72 related articles were studied. First, statistical reports on the geographical and thematic distribution according to the variety of factors affecting the life cycle assessment in construction were presented, and then the objectives of the study, fields of action, databases, tools and environmental effects of the published authoritative articles were examined and the strengths and weaknesses of the recent researches were revealed. The findings showed that the use of integrated databases and also the computational principles and coordinated calculator software along with the unification of functional units lad to the alignment of research within the framework of unit standards, as well as the possibility of comparing and expanding the conclusions and as a result, they provide a more comprehensive picture of the environmental effects of construction products and systems for professionals.