Environmental analysis of two building material alternatives in structures with the aim of sustainable construction

Selection of building materials in the design process is an important factor influencing not only future functionality of the building but also environmental performance. This paper deals with the environmental analysis of two material alternatives of one conventional Slovak masonry family-house with commonly used material composition in selected structures. Environmental analysis was aimed at the calculation of embodied energy, embodied CO2, and embodied SO2 emissions expressed as primary energy intensity (PEI), global warming potential (GWP), and acidification potential (AP), respectively. Total embodied energy of building materials (PEI) has been calculated to be equal to 780.1 and 698.4 GJ for A1 and A2 alternatives. Average calculated values of environmental parameters reached 2.19 MJ/kg of used materials for PEI; 0.105 kg CO2eq/kg for GWP and 0.71 × 10−3 kg SO2eq/kg for AP. Average values of building materials environmental parameters per floor area were calculated of 4,195.925 MJ/m2 for embodied energy (PEI), 202.5 kg CO2eq/m2 for embodied CO2 emissions (GWP) and 1.36 kg SO2eq/m2 for embodied SO2 emissions (AP). The results of the analysis point to the fact that it is possible to reduce the environmental impacts by up to 61.0 % in particular structures and by up to 10.5 % overall just by a simple change of several building materials in the structures.