Life Cycle Analysis of Single Family Houses and Effects of Green Technologies on Environment

Abstract

Construction and using of buildings for many years produce long-lasting impacts on human health and the environment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the rapidly evolving science of clarifying these impacts in terms of their quality, severity, and duration. LCA of three selected new family houses located in Eastern Slovakia is performed with the aim to compare them in terms of built-in materials as well as used technologies. The main goal of the analysis is to investigate and underline the foreseeable reduction rate of environmental impacts resulting from applied green materials and green technologies. LCA impact categories of global warming potential (GWP), ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP) are selected for this analysis. Investigated family houses are built from conventional materials, such as aerated concrete blocks, reinforced concrete, thermal insulation of silicate mineral slabs, and roofing mineral wool, as well as natural materials, such as clay, straw, wood, cellulose, and vegetation roofs. Product phase contributes greatly to the GWP for houses built of conventional materials. AP, EP, ODP, and POCP impact categories are considerable also in the product phase. Even an operational energy phase contributes a large share of the negative impact on the environment. Adoption of green design and technology in buildings, which can mitigate negative impacts on the environment, has been recognized as a key step towards global sustainable development. The main goal of this article is to make the case that green buildings are important for reducing negative effects on the environment and resources, while simultaneously enhancing positive effects throughout the building life cycle.