Prospective life cycle assessment of a novel building system with improved foam glass incorporating high recycled content

Abstract

This article presents a prospective life cycle assessment of the novel building system incorporating an improved foam glass with high recycled content, considering alternative shells (clay and concrete bricks) and construction site locations. The improved foam glass (λ = 0.037 W/m K; ρ = 100 kg/m3) outperforms the commercial foam glass in most environmental impact categories. A fully electric production process is only beneficial with a high share of renewable energy sources in the electricity mix. The use of the improved foam glass can lead to a reduction of climate change impacts by 64 % and resource use - fossil by 66 % in the European foam glass market. The novel building system can have good environmental performance even when assuming long-distance distribution. This article advances in proposing future scenario analyses by identifying life cycle hotspots (e.g. energy intensity, cullet availability), including changes in production, suppliers and market demand. A prospective life cycle assessment allows to anticipate critical issues and provide recommendations for improvement.