Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) : final report

The Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) located on 2210 West Mall; is one of the greenest buildings in British Columbia at its time of construction - developed primarily in response to the challenge of creating a more sustainable society. The LCA study was completed at the request of UBC Social Ecological Economic Development Studies (SEEDS) to transparently communicate the environmental benefits of University’s first net-zero energy and regenerative building and further pave the ways for similar future ventures. Although first of its kind study of a Green Building in UBC, CIRS LCA study is a part of UBC wide academic building LCA data repository and would contribute to knowledge built up of that database. A formulated approach as per ISO 14044 standard, was adopted to complete the LCA study as comprehensively as possible. The approach was carried off from quantity take-off using different state-of- art software, to preparing as thorough an inventory of building components & assemblies as was possible from the available information, modeling was done with Athena Impact Estimator which has one of the largest life cycle inventory database in North America. Assumptions and limitations of the software as well as the data were document in order to make the process transparent for any future reference or comparisons, this included explicit documentation in the form of input and assumption documents appendix to this report. From the analysis it is evident that CIRS stand up to the test of being sustainable and contributing positively towards its environment. Despite the challenges of whole building LCA study we are confident that this study would be a contribution towards knowledge built up and would encourage further such studies; strengthening the process and providing knowledge based information tool for future policies. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”Applied Science, Faculty ofCivil Engineering, Department ofUnreviewedUndergraduat