Life Cycle Assessment for Masonry Exterior Wall Assemblies Made of Traditional Building Materials

IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Vol.660: 4th International Conference on Innovative Materials, Structures and Technologies (IMST 2019) 2019
Zinta Zīmele, Māris Šinka, Diāna Bajāre, Andris Jakovičs

Building materials contribute a significant amount of CO2 to overall greenhouse gas emissions and this environmental impact should be reduced to improve the sustainability of the construction industry. Although new and low-carbon materials are emerging, the majority of materials used are still traditionally produced and are highly carbon intensive, such as masonry blocks and insulation slabs – rock wool or expanded polystyrene. To assess which of the traditionally used building materials are more sustainable, in this paper, wall models of the most widely used masonry blocks and insulation materials were analysed using life cycle assessment. The wall models were created to fulfil the requirements of nearly-zero energy buildings. The assessment showed that the lowest impact on the environment is from aerated concrete blocks and expanded polystyrene insulation, which is mostly due to low weight and raw materials consumption compared to other materials. On the other hand, expanded polystyrene insulation poses more danger to humans and the environment in its use phase than other materials due to emissions during fire and degradation, thus should be used with caution.

Keywords
CO2 emissions; masonry wall; global warming potential; life cycle assessment
DOI
10.1088/1757-899X/660/1/012042
Hyperlink
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1757-899X/660/1/012042

Zīmele, Z., Šinka, M., Bajāre, D., Jakovičs, A. Life Cycle Assessment for Masonry Exterior Wall Assemblies Made of Traditional Building Materials. In: IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering. Vol.660: 4th International Conference on Innovative Materials, Structures and Technologies (IMST 2019), Latvia, Riga, 25-27 September, 2019. Bristol: IOP Publishing, 2019, Article number 012042. ISSN 1757-8981. e-ISSN 1757-899X. Available from: doi:10.1088/1757-899X/660/1/012042

Publication language
English (en)