Abstract

This study consists of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied to a school building located in the Midwestern region of Brazil. The objective was to identify the contribution of the foundation and superstructure systems, both made of reinforced concrete; mortar coated masonry walls; a roof covered with thermo-acoustic tiles; aluminum window frames; and ceramic floors to the environmental impact categories defined in the methodology. The study used the cradle-to-gate approach for a functional unit with 1.0sqm of built area. The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) was calculated using the Ecoinvent 2.0 database, considering World ReCiPe Midpoint H for the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) method. The SimaPro 8.0 software was used for modeling. The conclusion was that the superstructure, roof and masonry walls were the systems that had the greatest impact, which indicates the need to find innovative alternatives to minimize the environmental impacts of the systems usually employed. Hence, this paper contributes to the development of LCA in Brazil, as it discusses the bottlenecks and difficulties observed in its application. This study also demonstrates the need to adapt the European manufacturing processes inventories to the Brazilian reality, since national inventories are still incipient.

Keywords:
Environmental impacts; Constructive systems; Sensitivity analysis