FIND A CONTRACTOR BUYER'S GUIDE
BECOME AN INDUSTRY PARTNER
MCAA Logo
MEMBER LOGIN JOIN
NEWS
Join Us For The 75th Anniversary Midyear Meeting Sep 7-11 ↗

MIT Research To Set Life-Cycle Assessment Standard

Words: Francine Abramoff/Public/News/20110304125000-1.jpg" width="600" height="338" border="0" alt="MIT recently released findings to help set a new standard in life-cycle assessment modeling." />
MIT recently released findings to help set a new standard in life-cycle assessment modeling.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently released preliminary research findings that will help set a new standard in life-cycle assessment (LCA) modeling. The studies, which are part of an ongoing research initiative at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, will quantify the cradle-to-grave environmental costs of paving and building materials, and will ultimately result in the most comprehensive LCA model produced to-date.

The scope and detail of MIT's LCA model will set their current efforts apart from previous work. According to MIT professor and research team leader John Ochsendorf, the expanded life-cycle window — 50 years for paving materials and 75 years for building materials — combined with the level of detailed analysis conducted on the use phase of structures and pavements will distinguish MIT's latest research. Initial reports have shown the importance of including the use phase, with MIT researchers finding that more than 90 percent of residential building life-cycle carbon emissions and up to 85 percent of highway pavement emissions occur during this period.

"The life-cycle model we are developing will combine the best data on the full range of costs — construction, maintenance, reconstruction, user, direct, and indirect — with a time frame that reflects the real world life of pavements and building materials," said Ochsendorf.

MIT's ongoing work on measuring the life-cycle carbon emissions of these materials is scheduled to be completed by August 2011. The environmental findings will then be supplemented by economic analyses in 2011 to provide the most accurate assessment of the economic and environmental impacts for buildings and pavements yet produced.

The economic study will produce an equally comprehensive life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) model. According to Ochsendorf, once both studies are completed, MIT will have "provided the scientific community, industry leaders and policymakers with a framework to determine the economic and environmental life-cycle costs of selected infrastructure materials throughout the real life of projects."

As policymakers and political leaders work to account for the environmental and economic costs of public building and paving projects, this type of comprehensive costing model of key materials may provide a roadmap to those who plan these major initiatives.
 0
Chairman's Message: REFLECTIONS SPANNING SEVENTY-FIVE YEARS
September 2025

MCAA has been posting lots of wonderful old photos from decades of records as we celebrate our 75th Anniversary. Many of these photos are black and white and show people at our MCAA events with men wearing suits and ties while the women wore dressy gowns

Dick Dentinger
Chairman’s Message
Read More
Business Building: What Are You Doing To Develop Future Leaders?
September 2025

When I ask my coaching clients if they have anyone in their construction company who could potentially move up from field superintendent to estimator or project manager, the typical answer is “No!” The same answer is usually given when asked if they have

George Hedley
Business Building
Read More
Building More: Smoke Signals or Fire Extinguishers
September 2025

Ever watch a hot-potato game break out on your jobsite? It usually starts small. Somebody spots a crooked door frame, mutters, “I’ll make a note,” and flicks the issue to the next trade like it’s radioactive. By the time that frame comes back around, dryw

Corey Adams
Building More
Read More
MASONRY STRONG Podcast, Episode 27 Recap: Rob McKay, Chief Operating Officer at Instone
September 2025

On this episode of the MASONRY STRONG Podcast, Rob McKay from Instone joins the show to talk about his story as well as the processes and procedures of manufacturing natural stone. Getting Started in Masonry: Rob’s Story Rob entered the masonry field by

Justin Stengel
The MASONRY STRONG Podcast
Read More