Evaluación del consumo energético y uso de recursos durante las fases de extracción y producción de tres materiales de construcción (ladrillo, concreto y bloque) producidos en el Ecuador.

Abstract

Clay bricks are important materials in the construction sector attributable to its excellent thermal and mechanical properties. In Ecuador, the production of clay bricks is one of the most important and oldest activities in the country. Nevertheless, its production involves the use of non-renewable resources and energy. Hence, the production of clay brick has a large footprint and its own environmental concerns. Therefore, this study is focused on quantifying the amount of energy, resource use and carbon footprint in a specific case of a semi-mechanized brick producer, performing a gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on the ISO 14040 standard, with the help of the openLCA program to assess the environmental impact (carbon footprint). Energy consumption and polluting emissions are mainly represented by the brick burning process, with an energy consumption of 3,79 [MJ/kgbrick] and CO2 emissions of 0,429 [kgCO2eq/kgbrick]. The water is only consumed for mixing the clay, requiring 0,277 [l/kgbrick].