Studies of the elements that make up the structure of a building have generally focused on topics related to their physical and structural capacities. Although research has been carried out into environmental impact during the life cycle stages, the environmental profile is far from established. This research aims to reduce the gap in the knowledge of this subject, offering useful information to professionals in the construction industry, which will enable them to consider environmental aspects when choosing the best construction systems. The present study applies the methodology of the life cycle assessment (LCA), to analyze and compare four floor construction systems in two different scenarios (“A” with a functional homogeneous unit of 1 m2 and “B” with 1 m² made up of the percentages of the floor system and the special areas of the building). The analysis is performed using the LCA Manager software, along with the Ecoinvent 3.1 database and with a cradle to handover perspective (A1–A5). Comparison was made using two environmental impact methodologies, Eco-indicator 99 and CML 2001. The results highlight the stages A1–A3 as those that generate the greatest environmental impact. Comparing the environmental profiles of the different floor systems, one-way floor systems I and II had the best environmental scores, 30% less than two-way floor system III and 50% less than slab floor system IV.
Numerous studies have been done with the purpose of identify and try to reduce the impact generated by the construction industry, mainly focused on the use stage in the search to increase the energy efficiency. However, as these stage has been improved and the impact produced has been reduced, it has become evident the need to focus the research on the elements and life cycle stages that follow on the affectation scale. Therefore, the present research analyzes the importance of the embodied energy and the affectation generated by the materials with a LCA perspective, comparing one square meter of three different systems used as interior partition walls: hollow clay brick (HB), hollow concrete block (CB) and gypsum board (GB). The analyzed stages are from production of the materials to the building construction (stages A1–A5), using the Eco-invent database with the LCA manager software. The results of the analysis indicate the values of the environmental affectations and the consumptions made by each element during the analyzed stages. The comparison allowed to find that the constructive solution with mayor environmental affectation in the analyzed categories is the GB wall, and that is mostly done in the production stage (A1–A3).
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