Dynamic life cycle assessment of the recurring embodied emissions from interior walls: Cradle to grave assessment

Abstract

The construction sector is recognized as being one of the main generators of CO₂ emissions and consumption of resources. Lately, special attention has been directed to the search for strategies that optimize and mitigate the embodied impact of constructive systems. In this research, the widely used life cycle assessment is applied to analyze the embodied emissions of several constructive systems used as interior partition walls (IPW), from a “cradle to grave” perspective. The study includes dynamic parameters in the design of scenarios for calculating the recurrent embodied emissions. The aim of the research is to assess the influence of these parameters on the variability of the accumulated results and to identify the constructive systems with optimal environmental performance. The results show the importance of maximizing the service life of systems and buildings in order to reduce the associated emissions, since the impact can be reduced by up to 60% over a 120-year perspective for the same system. This parameter's direct influence on the accumulated environmental performance was observed when an IPW with high initial impact but with longer service life consideration (IPW 26 – scenario 28 with 506 kg CO2 eq) could be just as suitable as an IPW with lower impact but shorter service life (IPW 27 – scenario 22 with 500 kg CO2 eq). It is also concluded that the initial embodied emissions of the construction systems are determinant in the cumulative impact, therefore highlighting the importance of material selection and optimization and the need for improvement in production processes.