Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Earth Construction: A Systematic Literature Review Considering Five Construction Techniques

Deborah Arduin (), Lucas Rosse Caldas, Rayane de Lima Moura Paiva and Fernando Rocha
Additional contact information
Deborah Arduin: Geobiotec Research Unit, Geosciences Department, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Lucas Rosse Caldas: Architecture Graduate Program (PROARQ), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro CEP 21941-901, Brazil
Rayane de Lima Moura Paiva: Civil Engineering Program—COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Cidade Universitária, Ilha do Fundão, Rio de Janeiro CEP 21941-972, Brazil
Fernando Rocha: Geobiotec Research Unit, Geosciences Department, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-30

Abstract: In the past decade, there has been an increase in the environmental performance assessment in earth construction through the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. A Systematic Literature Review verified LCA methodology trends of five earth construction techniques from 2016 to April 2022, resulting in 27 studies. The results have been analyzed through qualitative thematic analysis, considering LCA methodology. Considering embodied carbon (GWP) and embodied energy, transportation and binder content were the main factors that influenced environmental performance. Hence, earth-based constructions exhibit better results in different impact categories than conventional materials. Environmental guidelines and technical features that were presented in the LCA studies are discussed for Adobe, Cob, Rammed Earth (RE), Compressed Earth Block (CEB), and Light Straw Clay (LSC). This study presents environmental benchmarks at the unit, wall, and building scales aiming to encourage LCA methodology applied to earth construction techniques and fostering the discussion of earth construction sustainability.

Keywords: sustainability assessment; embodied carbon; embodied energy; earth construction; life cycle assessment; cob construction; Rammed Earth; LSC; Adobe; CEB (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13228/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/20/13228/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:20:p:13228-:d:942604

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().