ABSTRACT
As the energy and resource consumption during building operation is declining, the influence of the construction and end of life phases on the overall consumption is increasing. This study examines primary energy (PE) demand and global warming potential (GWP) of six construction types in a life cycle analysis depending on the building class. The results show that the timber construction types consume less non-renewable PE and cause a significantly lower GWP than the other designs, but with a narrowing gap in the higher building classes. The non-renewable PE demand of the solid and steel constructions are of the same order of magnitude. Regarding the GWP the steel construction achieves a reduction in comparison to the solid types. Furthermore, the study identifies the most influential building components and the impact of fire protection measures.
