Comparative life cycle assessment of Insulating Concrete Forms with traditional residential wall sections

Buildings account for 30-40% of the world's energy use. In the United States, buildings annually use 70% of the nation's electricity and emit about 40% of the country's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Innovative building products are emerging that have the potential to reduce environmental impacts and contribute towards sustainable development. Insulating concrete forms (ICF) is an innovative building material which is increasingly used in construction processes. An ICF wall section consists of expanded polystyrene (EPS) forms and poured concrete. One difference between ICF construction and "traditional" construction is that after the concrete has cured, the polystyrene forms remain in place. Reinforcement can be added according to the structural design. In this research a life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to compare ICF with traditional building materials like wood. The method used for the LCA is discussed.