Environmental footprints as an environmental assessment tool - an application to wall construction

Ecological footprinting is a value-free method of converting human impacts into an equivalent land area. The paper extends the concept to include both air and water regimes, and as such proposes a methodology that links life cycle analysis to `environmental footprinting' for undertaking a broad-based approach to engineering design. To illustrate the approach, wall units in building construction fabricated from wood and from steel are compared. …