Analysis, reduction and comparison of the life cycle environmental costs of an eco-neighborhood in Belgium

The protection of the environment is one of the main objectives in the European
Union. The aim is to protect Nature, that is constantly revolting against the strong
mechanization and new technologies. An environmental cost is the environmental
impact of a product, based on its damage and prevention charges. The main purposes of
this research are to quantify the different environmental damages generated by a
sustainable neighborhood and also, to evaluate those ones in a life cycle of 80 years, as
well as the damages derived from influence of water management and urban density on
the environment. Twelve environmental impacts were evaluated by the Pleiades and
Nova-EQUER simulation software, under four phases (construction, use, renovation
and demolition), before being translated into costs to the ecosystem. The results show
that the highest harm of a sustainable neighborhood in Belgium, are due to the
eutrophication (55.4%), and the greenhouse gas (31.2%) impacts, apart from the natural
components, which, their greatest harms on the overall environmental cost balance are:
the water (35.3%), the waste (21.9%), and the transport (18.1%). A neighborhood with a
good rainwater recovery system allows to save the 76% of the costs related to the water scarcity. The rubbish produces around the 60% of the expense costs, due to the odor impact and around the 43% are related to the health damages.