Environmental life cycle assessment and economic comparison of different roof systems

• Published in: Journal of Building Engineering Vol. 76; p. 107316
• Main Authors: Katebi, Ali, Soleymani Tushmanlo, Hamid, Asadollahfardi, Gholamreza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-10-2023
• Subjects: Chromite joist Roof; Concrete joist Roof; Concrete Slab Roof; Life Cycle Assessment; SimaPro; CBCB; CBClayB; Chromite joist Roof; Chromite Beam with Clay Block; CBPB; UBoot Concrete slab; Chromite beam with polystyrene block; CS; Concrete joist Roof; Concrete Beam with Polystyrene Block CHPB; Concrete Slab CHBC; Concrete beam with concrete block UCS; Concrete Slab Roof; Life Cycle Assessment; SimaPro; Concrete beam with clay block CHBClayB; Chromite beam with concrete block: DALY = Disability-Adjusted Life Year PDF= Potentially Disappeared Fraction
• ISSN: 2352-7102; 2352-7102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jobe.2023.107316

Recently, the negative environmental impacts of the construction industry have been of great concern. Since roofs are a major part of the building components, they may play a significant role in generating environmental pollution. One of the solutions to improve the environment in the construction industry is to attempt to achieve a roof system with minimal environmental impact. In the present work, the life cycle assessment (LCA) of one square meter of concrete joists and chromite joists roofs with various types of concrete, clay and polystyrene blocks, concrete slab, and Uboot concrete slab from cradle to the gate and processing technique using Simapro 9.1.1.7 software with the CML-IA baseline)2001) was studied. Also, the results of LCA obtained from the CML-IA baseline method were compared with the results achieved from GaBi software. The sensitivity analysis was performed to find materials with the greatest role in pollution generation. Furthermore, the economic evaluation of the roofs according to the price list for the building on Iran's Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) was carried out. The roof of the Concrete joist and polystyrene block has performed the most suitable on the roofs due to global warming, acidification, and eutrophication. The global warming, acidification, and eutrophication results using the CML-IA baseline (World 2000) method were slightly different from the BEES+ and the IPCC techniques results. Concrete joist with concrete block roof is the most economical roof among the different roofs. The comparison of LCA of eight roof systems with Simapro 9.1.1.7 and Gabi software is the first-time study, which may indicate one of the originalities of the work.
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•Environmental and economic evaluation of eight different types of roof systems was carried out.•The life cycle assessment method was applied.•Simapro 9.1.1.7 software results of LCA of eight roofs were compared with GaBi 9.2.1.68 software.•Three midpoint environmental impacts including global warming, acidification, and eutrophication were assessed.•Four environmental damage categories were assessed as the endpoint.