Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and environmental comparison the selected construction methods of residential buildings in traditional and straw cubes technology – a case study
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Cracow University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Warszawska 24, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
2
Cracow University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Warszawska 24, 31-155 Cracow, Poland
Submission date: 2021-11-18
Final revision date: 2021-12-10
Acceptance date: 2021-12-14
Publication date: 2022-09-30
Archives of Civil Engineering 2022;68(3):241-255
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ABSTRACT
Popular, traditional building materials typically exhibit a high energy intensity and a detrimental effect on the environment. Only a negligible part of them are recovered and recycled, re-used in the building trade or other branches of industry. However, the technology of building detached houses based on ceramic blocks is still most often favored by investors due to its price and high availability (in terms of materials and workmanship). The research indicates that 25–30% of CO2 emissions generated by buildings originate from materials and their manufacturing process. In contrast, 70–75% can be attributed to the use of buildings over a longer period of time. As a result, the importance of alternative materials with minimal environmental impacts is growing year by year. Eco-friendly housing, using natural products, pollutes the environment less significantly compared to conventional construction. Its key element is the use of materials characterized by the lowest possible degree of processing, and thus by the lowest possible embodied energy. A type of material that perfectly fits into the above assumptions is straw bale. The purpose of the article focus on, four variants of a construction of detached house have been compared by means of the LCA method. Variant I – the reference one, presents the technology utilizing ceramic hollow bricks, variants II, III and IV are eco-friendly technologies employing wood and straw. The study presents the amount of energy required for construction and carbon footprint that remains in the environment following the construction of the buildings.