Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools were created to allow homebuilders the opportunity to choose the most environmentally effective building materials and designs. Given the potential importance of these tools, HUD commissioned the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center to bring together a forum of experts to discuss the usefulness of LCA tools. The report "Life Cycle Assessment Tools to Measure Environmental Impact: Assessing Their Applicability to the Home Building Industry" presents the results of the forum's examination and offers a critique of LCA tools, as well as suggestions on how they can be made more useful. This report is divided into three sections. Section I contains background information on LCA tools and the purpose of the LCA forum; section II explains how the forum was designed to elicit input from the meeting's participants and provides information on each of the tools highlighted during the event; and section III contains primary feedback obtained from participants during each of the facilitated discussions and recommendations on how to make the tools more applicable to the residential home building industry. Based upon the feedback, the report suggests that LCA tools are not ready, and may not be ready for sometime, for homebuilders to use as a practical resource. In any event, architects, designers, product manufacturers, builders, and engineers in the commercial building industry may find this report worthy of attention.
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