Short Biography:

Johannes received a Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1993 at Stuttgart University. Successively he worked as a Research Assistant and from 1998 on as Director of the Life Cycle Engineering Department at IKP / Stuttgart University.

Since 2001 Johannes is acting partner of PE INTERNATIONAL AG. He developed PE’s sustainable construction activities including Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), building certification and construction materials databases. He has more than 20 years experience in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), specialized in construction, construction materials and end of life operations. Johannes is Member of the German Standardization Delegation in European Standardization (CEN TC 350) for the sustainability of construction works; he had a significant influence on the development of the German EPD program for construction products (IBU).

In 2007 Johannes was initiator and founding member of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB). He serves as Executive Director and member of the Board of Directors of DGNB. From 2008 to 2010 he was member of WorldGBC’s Council Development Committee, since 2010 he is member of WorldGBC’s Board of Directors.  

Abstract:

The consideration of the three pillars of sustainability (environmental, economic and social) is basis for new business models in the real estate sector. The World Green Building Council Business Case Report shows a “triple win” situation for the developer, the owner and the tenant.

But how to measure sustainability which is obviously multi-dimensional? And how to integrate sustainability in the planning process?

Life Cycle Planning is the framework to apply Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the environmental and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) for the economic criteria. They allow finding balanced solutions in an early planning stage, where changes of the design are still possible. Since the result over the complete life cycle is benchmarked, new solutions are easy to integrate which stimulates innovation.

Reliable and consistent information on the environmental performance of construction products as well as transparency on their ingredients are prerequisites of an efficient workflow. The concept of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) and Health Product Declarations (HPD) are becoming the fundament for Life Cycle Planning.

Tools like Tally™ (by KieranTimberlake and PE INTERNATIONAL), a plug-in application for Autodesk® Revit® software will support the process in the future by linking BIM models with environmental information.