Life Cycle Impact Assessment of Load-Bearing Straw Bale Residential Building.

Rozalia Vanova,Jozef Stefko,Michal Vlcko

doi:10.3390/ma14113064

Abstract

As a renewable raw material, straw bale represents a sustainable way of construction with minimal environmental impact. This paper focused on life cycle impact assessment of load-bearing straw bale residential building. Product stage from raw materials extraction to manufacture of construction materials was considered in the assessment including seven variations of straw bale. Construction materials were evaluated due to IMPACT 2002+ method. Both midpoint and endpoint impact categories were included. The results showed the importance of straw bale origin. Ecosystem quality impact of straw from extensively cultivated pastures was twenty times higher than that of intensive crop production, thus making a significant difference to an overall score of the construction. Results showed advantage of straw as a construction material particularly when used locally. In addition, significant contributions of other construction materials were identified.

Highlights

IntroductionThe World Economic Forum [2] claim climate-related natural disasters such as hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires are becoming more intense and more frequent
In 2006 the International Organization for Standardization released a framework for Life Cycle Assessment—LCA methodology [4,5], providing principles and guidelines of products and services impact assessment over the whole life cycle
The selected load-bearing straw bale construction was assessed in terms of its environmental impact, based on the LCA methodology [4,5] and IMPACT 2002+ calculation method [7]

Summary

Introduction

The World Economic Forum [2] claim climate-related natural disasters such as hurricanes, droughts, and wildfires are becoming more intense and more frequent. In 2006 the International Organization for Standardization released a framework for Life Cycle Assessment—LCA methodology [4,5], providing principles and guidelines of products and services impact assessment over the whole life cycle. This method has been being commonly used among researchers worldwide and brings progressive view on environmental pollution caused by current technology and society requirements

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion