Life cycle-based TOPSIS for evaluation and selection of sustainable materials for residential building facade in Yazd

Construction industry is one of the major consumers of renewable and non-renewable resources, and an important source of waste production as well as air, soil and water pollution. In order to minimize negative impacts of the industry, the use of sustainable materials has been considered in recent years. This paper aims to propose a systematic approach for evaluating and selecting sustainable materials for residential buildings considering the environmental, economic, social and technical factors in the entire life cycle. To this end, the most important criteria for sustainable building facade in warm and dry climate of Yazd is determined by identifying a list of sustainability criteria and their weight coefficients. Then, using TOPSIS in the entire life cycle of four usual allowed materials including clay brick, travertine stone, white cement and thermally modified wood (Thermo Wood), the proposed criteria are evaluated and the sustainability scoreof materials is computed. The experimental results (confirmed by experts) show that brick is the most sustainable one and cement is the worst option for the building facade in Yazd. The results also confirm that all the economic, environmental, social, and technical aspects ofsustainability should be considered simultaneously in the decision-making process for selection of building materials

Keywords:

Building materials , Sustainable , Sustainability score , Life cycle , TOPSIS