Whole-Building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) Services

Quantify the Environmental Impact of Your Building Design

Whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) provides a data-driven understanding of your building’s embodied carbon and environmental performance. Using the National Whole-Building Life Cycle Assessment Practitioner’s Guide, LCA Design helps project teams measure, compare, and reduce the impacts of materials and design decisions across a building’s full life cycle.


Our wbLCA Services

1. Early-Stage Design Support

Evaluate material and structural options during concept design to identify low-carbon strategies before major design commitments are made.

2. Detailed Whole-Building Assessment

Model the life cycle of materials from extraction to end-of-life using standardized LCA software and national databases. Results can be used for:

  • Green building certification (LEED v4 MRc1, Zero Carbon Building Standard, etc.)

  • Embodied carbon reporting

  • Design comparisons and optimization

3. Compliance with the National wbLCA Practitioner’s Guide

We follow the National Whole-Building Life Cycle Assessment Practitioner’s Guide to ensure consistent methodology and credible, comparable results across projects.

4. Results Interpretation and Reporting

Receive a clear report outlining global warming potential, resource use, and other key indicators, along with practical recommendations for reducing embodied impacts.


Why Work with LCA Design

  • Experience with Building LCAs across commercial, institutional, and residential projects

  • Compliant with ISO 14040/44 and the wbLCA Standards

  • Independent, third-party expertise — transparent and defensible results

  • Actionable insights that help design teams meet performance targets and certification requirements


Deliverables

  • Whole-building LCA report aligned with the National wbLCA Practitioner’s Guide

  • Summary dashboard of key indicators (e.g., GWP, ODP, AP, POCP)

  • Comparative results for design options

  • Recommendations for embodied carbon reduction


Get Started

Ready to integrate whole-building LCA into your next project?

Contact LCA Design to discuss your building type, goals, and timelines. We’ll help you select the right approach for accurate, actionable results.

whole building life cycle assessment (wbLCA) services