Building Ecology and Life Cycle Thinking - SUSD0002

This course introduces and applies a whole-of-life approach to built environment sustainability. It discusses the life cycle of built form from the availability and acquisition of natural resources and raw materials, through processing and manufacture to on-site construction and use, maintenance and refurbishment, and eventual demolition and reuse/recycling or disposal. The environmental impacts at each stage of the life cycle are considered, such as initial and recurrent embodied energy, wastes generated and their management, and ways in which design may minimise or eliminate such impacts.