Abstract
This research focuses on a comparison of 20 external wall systems that are conventionally used in Spanish residential buildings, from a perspective based on the product and construction process stages of the life cycle assessment. The primary objective is to provide data that allow knowing the environmental behavior of walls built with materials and practices conventionally. This type of analysis will enable promoting the creation of regulations that encourage the use of combinations of materials that generate the most environmentally suitable result, and in turn, contribute to the strengthening of the embodied stages study of buildings and their elements. The results indicate that the greatest impact arises in the product stage (90.9%), followed by the transport stage (8.9%) and the construction process stage (<1%). Strategies (such as the use of large-format pieces and the controlled increase in thickness of the thermal insulation) can contribute to reducing the environmental impact; on the contrary, practices such as the use of small-format pieces and laminated plasterboard can increase the environmental burden. The prediction of the environmental behavior (simulation equation) allows these possible impacts to be studied in a fast and simplified way.
Highlights
The construction industry is responsible for the unsustainable use of natural resources, and is an important source of air, soil, and water pollution [1]
This research focuses on a comparison of 20 external wall systems that are conventionally used in Spanish residential buildings, from a perspective based on the product and construction process stages of the life cycle assessment
Studies have shown that most of the environmental impacts occur in this phase, representing approximately 80-90% of the total impacts generated in the useful life of the building [8,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]
Summary
The construction industry is responsible for the unsustainable use of natural resources, and is an important source of air, soil, and water pollution [1]. Despite being a relatively young methodology in this field, the LCA may provide a solution to the environmental challenges currently affecting the sector These include the significant consumption of energy and raw materials, solid waste management, and greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) [3,14,37,38,39,40,41,42], making this an essential instrument with a view to the future. It is necessary to analyze how these materials behave when they are integrated in a constructive element of a building from a perspective specific to the design of the element (stages A1–A5), and not as a consequence of its use In this sense, this research focuses on the study of that fundamental part of the envelope: the walls. In previous studies [8,53,54], this criterion has ensured that the functional unit would lead to reliable results
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