The State of Minnesota
Sustainable Building Guidelines (MSBG) Version 2.0

M.1 Life Cycle Assessment of Building Assemblies

Intent
To inform early building assembly material choices using life cycle assessment of alternatives. Building assembly choices significantly affect global warming, air pollution, water pollution, energy use, and waste.

Required Performance Criteria
A. During schematic design, evaluate a base case and at least two alternative scenarios for building assembly material choices on the project and enter results in Form P-6 Materials and Waste Documentation. Assemblies to be documented are foundations, intermediate floors, roof, exterior walls, windows, and interior partitions. Outcomes are global warming potential, air pollution index, water pollution index, primary energy, weighted resource use, and solid waste produced over the life cycle of the material. The analysis is calculated over a 60-year life cycle. The tool for these calculations is Worksheet M-1: Life Cycle Assessment Calculator which contains pre-run assembly scenarios based on the Athena Environmental Impact Estimator software. Teams may alternately run the Athena Environmental Impact Estimator for a more customized approach.

Recommended Performance Criteria
B. Use BEES or other tools to perform similar types of analysis for interior finish materials. This type of assessment usually occurs in the DD or CD phase.

Compliance Tools and Resources
For Item A above:

• Worksheet M-1: Life Cycle Assessment Calculator
• The Environmental Impact Estimator - software from the Athena Institute (www.athenasmi.ca)

For Item B above:

• BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software (www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html)