International Journal of Applied Science and Engineering 2005. 3, 1: 69-79 Int. J. Appl. Sci. Eng., 2005. 3, 1 69 Environmental and Energy Considerations in Two Selected SC and RC School Buildings in Taiwan Sheng-Lung Lin * and Yu-Feng Wei Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, Chaoyang University of Technology, Wufong, Taichung County 41349, Taiwan, R.O.C. Abstract: The incorporation of environmental and energy considerations into the building de- sign will become the main stream of the construction industry. This paper intended to demon- strate the life-cycle assessment method employed in the analysis of energy consumptions and environmental impacts during the life time of the school buildings in Taiwan. There are two popular types of school buildings in Taiwan nowadays. One is steel-based construction (hereafter referred to SC). The other is reinforced concrete construction (hereafter referred to RC). Two se- lected buildings located at Taichung County have been analyzed in the study. Five stages were identified in the whole life of school buildings including material production, erection, occupa- tion, demolition, and disposal/recycling scenario. A 50-year service time was assumed for both buildings. The results show that the most energy consumption occurs in the occupation stage for both selected school buildings. They contribute 95.8% and 87.2% of the total energy consump- tion in its service time for the SC and RC buildings, respectively. However, the construction processes may influence the energy consumption significantly. It also concluded that both se- lected buildings consumed lots of energy during the first 30 years, and then energy consumptions of the selected school buildings was leveled off. The inventory data was simulated in an LCA model and the environmental impacts for each stage were indicated as numerical scores based on the Eco-indicator 99. Keywords: life cycle assessment; school buildings; energy consumption; environmental impacts. * Corresponding e-mail: sllin@mail.cyut.edu.tw Accepted for Publication: March 23, 2005 © Chaoyang University of Technology, ISSN 1727-2394 1. Introduction The sustainable development has become a new paradigm to run a business, which leads to the incorporation of environmental and en- ergy considerations into the design of a build- ing. Generally, a school building could serve more than 50 years before it is demolished. It cannot be ignored that the energy consump- tion of a school building will be tremendous during its service time as well as the associ- ated environmental impact. On the other hand, the erection of the buildings, the processes of construction materials, and the recycling of wasted construction materials involve energy consumptions and emissions of pollutants. The energy savings become one of the most important things in the school management. This paper will discuss the energy consump- tions of the school buildings through a way of the life-cycle thinking. There are two popular types of school buildings in Taiwan. One is