Life cycle assessment of the project was carried out for the expandable part of the L’Oréal plant by consultants from HPBS.
The project life cycle assessment was divided into two phases:
First, at the design stage, the optimization of the building structures and the selection of building materials with the lowest environmental impact, as well as the overall optimization of the building space and material consumption were carried out.
Information on emissions at all stages of the life cycle is used from environmental declarations of products (EPD), as well as from specialized databases such as Impact, Athena, One-Click-CLACK.
Environmental declarations of products must comply with the requirements of EN 15804 or ISO 21930 standards. A small number of environmental declarations are still available for Russian construction materials (mainly Saint-Gobain, Rockwool and Knauf), therefore, environmental declarations of materials of similar characteristics from another manufacturer and another country were chosen more often for the materials included in the project.
The results of the project life cycle assessment: the original building and the optimized building are presented below:
| Impact category | Original building | Optimized building | Units of measurement | % reduction |
| Global warming potential | 5 940 000 | 4 950 000 | СО2е | 16,67% |
| Destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer | 3,54 | 3,26 | kg CFC-11 | 7,91% |
| Oxidation of water resources and soils | 11 800 | 10 000 | kg SO2 | 15,25% |
| Eutrophication | 4 180 | 4 110 | kg PO4 | 1,67% |
| Formation of tropospheric ozone | 11 600 | 11 000 | kg C2H4 | 5,17% |
| Depletion of non-renewable energy sources | 77 700 000 | 65 200 000 | MJ | 16,09% |
| The number of events with a reduction % of at least 10% | 3 |
The table shows that in all parameters there is a reduction in negative impacts compared to the original building, thus, the optimization carried out has a positive result.
The assessment of the project life cycle made it possible to achieve the target parameters.
Additionally, the optimization of the energy consumption of the building at the operational stage is carried out by digital modeling methods. During the design of the building, a virtual model of the building was created and HPBS experts tested various solutions to optimize energy consumption. For example, the following steps have been applied at the L’Oréal plant to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:
This step has reduced emissions by about 27% annually.
A solar power plant reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 10% annually.
The purchase of renewable energy certificates is currently not liberalized in the Russian market. An ordinary ordinary company or person cannot purchase “green” energy for themselves. Therefore, international companies often have to buy certificates outside of Russia. We hope this situation will change soon. The purchase of renewable energy certificates compensates for up to 100% of emissions from the use of electric energy.
A building can consume more energy when it is cheap (for example, at night) and save when it is more expensive (for example, at noon). These algorithms are part of smart networks and are called “Demand Response”. Such algorithms reduce peak loads on the grid and increase the reliability and durability of the country’s energy infrastructure.
A boiler house is being designed at the plant, which will provide heat using biomass. Wood production waste, fuel pellets, rice husks, wood shavings, sunflower husks, etc. can serve as fuel.
In fact, when applying all of the above measures, the energy consumption of the plant will not have greenhouse gas emissions during operation.