Environmental Behaviour of an Element of the Construction Sector

Most European cities use prefabricated cement-based materials to transform public spaces to be used by citizens. These facilities must be resistant, economic, functional and, above all, sustainable. Furthermore, civil works have a very high consumption level of raw materials and energy, which implies high environmental emissions. Ecodesign is a response to comply with these criteria throughout the lifecycle of a product in order to prevent or reduce its environmental impact. The Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) methodology allows for evaluating all the processes related to a product, to identify key points and to establish a strategy for improvement. The main objective of this work is to show the results of the application of the LCA for the common precast concrete pavers used in civil works, analyzing their entire life cycle: from obtaining the raw materials for their production to the pavers' end of life. The main reason for this LCA is to assess the environmental performance at the various stages of their life cycle and the environmental burdens associated with these stages, so that possible improvements can be identified.