Quantificação das emissões de CO2 na construção de unidades residenciais unifamiliares com diferentes materiais

Abstract

This study aimed to quantify the carbon dioxide emissions during the process of construction of twenty single-family residential units, each with a total area of 42.89 m². Quantification was performed by using Energy Life Cycle Analysis (ELCA), a simplified way to conduct an analysis of environmental impacts. The ELCA was based on the methodology proposed by Tavares (2006), which uses the Embedded Energy (EE) to quantify the emissions of CO2 in the main materials used for construction, i.e: Steel, aggregates, red ceramic, lime and cement. The use of these materials in the construction of the studied units will emit 60,157.00 kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere. Due to this high rate of emission, the replacement material was proposed using ceramic blocks in sealing, instead of alternative materials of soilcement blocks and concrete blocks. The replacement was proposed in order to verify if these materials have lower carbon dioxide emissions, so they could make the buildings less impactful to the environment. The use of concrete blocks is not advantageous because it would increase CO2 emissions by 1873.29 kg. Meanwhile, the use of soil-cement blocks would reduce CO2 emissions by 8.018,00 kg, thus making the construction of the units an activity with less environmental impact. This would occur because the soil-cement block during manufacture, does not pass through the burning process, making it a sustainable material.