Which strategy aligns with the principles of whole-building life-cycle assessment (LCA) to reduce the overall...

Enhancing material-use optimization during early design best aligns with whole-building life-cycle assessment. LCA evaluates environmental impacts across a building’s life cycle, including extraction, manufacturing, transportation, construction, operation, maintenance, and end-of-life. Early design decisions have the greatest influence on structural systems, building form, material quantities, durability, and embodied environmental impacts. Using local materials exclusively may reduce transportation impacts, but it does not automatically reduce total life-cycle impacts. Prioritizing economic value relates more to life-cycle costing, not life-cycle assessment. Choosing the lowest first cost is also incorrect because it may increase environmental burdens or reduce durability. In LEED Materials and Resources, whole-building LCA encourages project teams to compare design alternatives and reduce impacts such as global warming potential, resource depletion, acidification, and eutrophication.