Life-cycle assessment of concrete hollow blocks and autoclaved aerated concrete blocks

The global shortage of natural resources and its effects on the environment are both adversely affected by the construction industry. Environmental criteria must be considered when it comes to selecting sustainable building materials. In this paper, two models for interior wall systems were investigated, the use of conventional concrete hollow block (CHB) and the alternative autoclaved aerated concrete block (AACB). A life cycle assessment (LCA) considering a school building in the Philippines with a cradle-to-gate boundary and a functional unit of 10.5m² was performed to compare the environmental impacts of these walls. In the endpoint categories, the use of AACB resulted a decrease in human health, ecosystems, and resources while in the midpoint categories, the use of AACB walls resulted a decrease in CO₂ emission, fine particulate matter formation, and human carcinogenic toxicity. It is therefore concluded that AACB interior wall systems have substantial potential to reduce the environmental burden caused by the building construction.