An Environmental Value Engineering (EVE) Analysis of the Environmental Impacts of Component Production for Traditional Wood-Framed and Structural-Insulated Panel Wall Systems

Abstract

The building industry is a continually changing process, and for many years the traditional wall-framing approach has been used for residential and small commercial projects. In recent years, the introduction of new processes, procedures, and manufactured components have made an impact on the construction process and project. With the advent of these new technologies, come problems concerning the accounting for and determination of their environmental impact through analysis. In order to mitigate these problems and substantiate the environmental impact of manufactured components, it is necessary to implement a strategy, through analysis, that accounts for manufactured components and their impact to the life cycle of a built environment alternative. The purpose of this study was to investigate the material and component production phase using a traditional analysis methodology to determine the environmental impact and assess the influence these inputs and phases have on an Environmental value engineering (EVE) analysis. The study utilized the EVE analysis methodology to compare a traditional wood-framed system and those of a manufactured product, structural insulated panel systems (SIPs), in order to elucidate the component production phase, compare input impacts, identify the least environmental intrusive alternative wall system, and quantify a gap that existed in the EVE methodology. The statistical techniques used for this study were; comparative analysis, descriptive statistics, input source frequencies and impact data analysis of known and assumed values. The research findings indicate that the accounting of the component production phase for structural insulated panels increased the accuracy of the EVE analysis by 4.1% and that the separation of the manufacturing phases; material production, design, and component production incur a 11.2% more accurate accounting when compared with assumed or combined phases. The impact analysis results indicated that the material production phase imposed the highest influence for both alternative wall systems with inputs of 80% for traditional wood-framed systems and 84% for structural insulated panels. Input source results revealed that equipment, facilities, and materials have the highest impact for each wall system while the land and services (labor) were the lowest based on each wall alternative requirements. The results revealed that the manufactured system, structural insulated panel system, has the least environmental impact on the built environment. The study reinforced the need for developing strategies to incorporate the component production phase to more accurately portray the environmental impact in analysis.