Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry
The growing attention to sustainability and life cycle issues by European and international policies has recently encouraged the adoption, in the construction sector, of environmental labels able to quantify the impacts on environment associated with the fabrication of several building materials, e....
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/4/1846 |
| _version_ | 1797621233175494656 |
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| author | Francesco Asdrubali Gianluca Grazieschi Marta Roncone Francesca Thiebat Corrado Carbonaro |
| author_facet | Francesco Asdrubali Gianluca Grazieschi Marta Roncone Francesca Thiebat Corrado Carbonaro |
| author_sort | Francesco Asdrubali |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growing attention to sustainability and life cycle issues by European and international policies has recently encouraged the adoption, in the construction sector, of environmental labels able to quantify the impacts on environment associated with the fabrication of several building materials, e.g., their embodied energy and carbon. Within this framework, since walls represent a large percentage of building mass and therefore of embodied impacts, this article collects and analyzes nearly 180 Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs) of wall construction products such as masonry blocks and concrete panels. The data related to the primary energy (renewable and non-renewable) and the global warming potential extracted from the EPDs were compared firstly at the block level (choosing 1 kg as functional unit), enabling designers and manufacturers to understand and reduce the impacts from wall products at the early design stage. As the design progresses, it is therefore necessary to evaluate the environmental impacts related to the entire wall system. For this purpose, this paper proposes a further investigation on some simple wall options having similar thermal performance and superficial mass (the functional unit chosen in this case was equal to 1 m<sup>2</sup> with R ≈ 5 m<sup>2</sup>K/W, Ms ≈ 260 kg/m<sup>2</sup>). The outcomes showed how the durability of the materials and the potential of disassembly of the wall stratigraphies can play a crucial role in reducing the environmental impact. This paper provides a methodological reference both for manufacturers to reduce impacts and for designers committed to the application of environmental labeling in the design process since they will now be able to compare their products with others. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:52:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-781d1c5eaeef45db80c1c1a886deac20 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:52:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-781d1c5eaeef45db80c1c1a886deac202023-11-16T20:18:37ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-02-01164184610.3390/en16041846Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of MasonryFrancesco Asdrubali0Gianluca Grazieschi1Marta Roncone2Francesca Thiebat3Corrado Carbonaro4Department of Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, Roma Tre University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, ItalyDepartment of Architecture and Design, Politecnico di Torino, Viale Pier Andrea Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, ItalyThe growing attention to sustainability and life cycle issues by European and international policies has recently encouraged the adoption, in the construction sector, of environmental labels able to quantify the impacts on environment associated with the fabrication of several building materials, e.g., their embodied energy and carbon. Within this framework, since walls represent a large percentage of building mass and therefore of embodied impacts, this article collects and analyzes nearly 180 Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs) of wall construction products such as masonry blocks and concrete panels. The data related to the primary energy (renewable and non-renewable) and the global warming potential extracted from the EPDs were compared firstly at the block level (choosing 1 kg as functional unit), enabling designers and manufacturers to understand and reduce the impacts from wall products at the early design stage. As the design progresses, it is therefore necessary to evaluate the environmental impacts related to the entire wall system. For this purpose, this paper proposes a further investigation on some simple wall options having similar thermal performance and superficial mass (the functional unit chosen in this case was equal to 1 m<sup>2</sup> with R ≈ 5 m<sup>2</sup>K/W, Ms ≈ 260 kg/m<sup>2</sup>). The outcomes showed how the durability of the materials and the potential of disassembly of the wall stratigraphies can play a crucial role in reducing the environmental impact. This paper provides a methodological reference both for manufacturers to reduce impacts and for designers committed to the application of environmental labeling in the design process since they will now be able to compare their products with others.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/4/1846life cycle assessment (LCA)embodied energyembodied carbonenvironmental product declarations (EPD)masonry materialssustainable buildings |
| spellingShingle | Francesco Asdrubali Gianluca Grazieschi Marta Roncone Francesca Thiebat Corrado Carbonaro Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry Energies life cycle assessment (LCA) embodied energy embodied carbon environmental product declarations (EPD) masonry materials sustainable buildings |
| title | Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry |
| title_full | Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry |
| title_fullStr | Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry |
| title_short | Sustainability of Building Materials: Embodied Energy and Embodied Carbon of Masonry |
| title_sort | sustainability of building materials embodied energy and embodied carbon of masonry |
| topic | life cycle assessment (LCA) embodied energy embodied carbon environmental product declarations (EPD) masonry materials sustainable buildings |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/4/1846 |
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