LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND CIVIL CONSTRUCTION: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE EVALUATION OF SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSES

Abstract

Environmental issues have been prominent in conferences on sustainable development. Identifying the possible environmental impacts and acting in a way to minimize them, has become a priority in organizations of different segments. The same occurs for the construction industry which is responsible for environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of its products, due to the consumption of resources and energy. In view of this, this work aimed to highlight the main subjects of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) phases (goal and scope definition, inventory analysis and impact assessment) to identify LCIA (Life Cycle Impact Assessment) methods applied to the evaluation of single-family houses. Through a systematic review of the literature, it was found that the main categories of impact were ozone depletion, eutrophication, acidification, climate change, resource depletion and human toxicity. In addition, methods such as ReCiPe, Eco-Indicator 99, IMPACT 2002+ and CML have been found to be most useful for evaluating buildings.