Potential for Reducing the Carbon Footprint of Buildings

Abstract

The construction sector produces more than 35% of the total amount of waste in Europe and for around 36% of emissions. This paper deals with the life cycle analysis of three alternatives of a residential building in terms of carbon footprint. At the same time, the analysis focuses on the end-of-life phase and its significance for the reduction of the carbon footprint. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that variant three has the lowest CO2eq/m2 emission levels compared to those of the other two variants. Based on the overall investigation of the end-of-life phase, this study found that the reuse of brick material contributed the most to the reduction of the overall emissions.

Keywords

• building
• life cycle assessment
• carbon footprint
• end of life