PSI - Issue 64

Nathália Andrade da Silva et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 64 (2024) 1460–1467 Author name / Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2019) 000 – 000

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2.7. Environmental performance

Caldas et al. (2020) presented a study to quantify the impact of climate change on the life cycle of buildings, testing it in a case study with Bamboo Bio-concrete (BBC). The proposed structure was applied to a Brazilian housing project in six cities, comparing the performance of BBC with conventional construction systems. Dynamic Life Cycle Assessment (DLCA) and thermal energy simulation were used to evaluate the environmental impact and energy performance of the buildings. The study demonstrated that increasing the thickness of the BBC layer in the building envelope, from 10 cm to 20 cm, leads to a significant improvement in carbon stock and operational carbon reduction. This is due to the high carbon sequestration capacity of bamboo and the better thermal performance of BBC. The results indicate that BBC emerges as a promising alternative for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the construction sector, especially in regions with bamboo availability. BBC offers advantages compared to conventional construction systems, both in terms of mitigation (reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) and adaptation (improved thermal performance and resilience to extreme weather events). The study by Franco et al. (2022) contributes to the understanding of the potential of bamboo bio-concrete as a sustainable and efficient material for the construction of public office buildings. Franco et al. (2022) analyzed the impact of different types of external vertical sealing in bamboo bio-concrete on the thermal-energy performance of public office buildings. The analysis, conducted using the DesignBuilder software, focused on the operational phase of the buildings, considering two Brazilian cities with distinct bioclimatic zones (Brasília and Rio de Janeiro) and three height variations (1, 3, and 5 floors). Four types of solid bamboo bio-concrete walls (Fig. 4) were compared, resulting in a matrix of 24 building projects.

Fig. 4. Typology of external walls made of bamboo bio-concrete (Franco et al.,2022).

The results indicate that, for the same number of floors and in the same city, the difference in the annual energy consumption of the buildings between the evaluated wall types is considered negligible, ranging between 1.2% and 2.6%. When comparing the cities, the greatest difference in energy consumption was observed in the cooling of the buildings. In Brasília, this consumption was on average 36.5%, 33.8%, and 28.4% lower than in Rio de Janeiro for buildings with 1, 3, and 5 floors, respectively. Araújo et al. (2022) explored the potential of Bamboo Earth-Based Bio-concrete as an innovative and sustainable material for the construction industry. The study evaluated and compared the mechanical performance and environmental profile of bamboo bio-concrete using different soil fractions as partial substitutes for the cement matrix, quantifying their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The research employed a fixed volume fraction of 45% for bamboo aggregates and binders (cement: metakaolin: fly ash) in a 30:30:40 ratio, which were gradually replaced by soil at volume fractions of 10%, 15%, and 20%.Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was applied to account for GHG emissions, adopting a cradle-to-gate scope, biogenic carbon methodology, and the avoided impacts of bamboo waste incineration. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the impact of varying distances of bamboo waste transportation. Mechanical results demonstrated an increase in compressive strength of the bio-concretes with the increase of soil content up to 15% as a replacement of the cementitious matrix. LCA results revealed negative embodied GHG emissions in all mixtures, with an average of -115.7 kgCO 2 -eq /m 3 . This significant reduction is mainly attributed to the high biomass content in the mixtures. The increase in soil content from 0% to 20% in the mixtures further reduced emissions by 59.7 kgCO 2 -eq /m 3 , as a consequence of the decrease in binder content. The study findings indicate that soil-based bio-concretes represent a promising and innovative material, with potential to assist in achieving net-zero carbon emission targets and promoting a circular pathway in the construction and building sectors.