Multi-Criteria Analysis of Material Selection in order to Reduce Environmental Impacts

In world with limited amount of resources and with serious environmental pollution, it is obvious that more sustainable life style will be more and more important. The case study deals with possible way to sustainable development of dwelling located in Slovak Republic. The paper focuses on evaluation of energy and environmental performance of the building structures. The energy used in the extraction, processing and transportation of materials used in building structures can be significant part of the total energy used over the life cycle of a building, particularly in nearly-zero energy performance buildings. In order to reduce the embodied energy and embodied carbon, this study is aimed at material selection during the design stage of building. Material selection represents systematic and holistic approach to making decisions and can significantly affect the performance and sustainability of the building during its overall lifetime. For the purpose of optimalisation, it uses the method of multi-criteria analysis. The analysis of material compositions of structure alternatives shows that local available materials on plant base improve environmental potential of building because they lock carbon in their mass and consume solar energy for production of raw material source. The results of LCA (within boundary "cradle to gate") demonstrate that in spite of the increased amount of applied materials, the designed nearly zero energy family house with optimised structures achieves approximately 2.6 GJ per floor area and high negative balance of embodied carbon more than -700 kg of CO(2)eq per floor area and represents possible way to reduce the carbon footprint.