Fired Clay Brick or Autoclaved Aerated Concrete as Walling Materials in Terms of Sustainability

Year 2020, Volume: 16 Issue: 2, 109 - 117, 24.06.2020

Saniye Karaman Öztaş , Sinan İriş

Abstract

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The construction sector is a significant contributor
to harmful environmental impacts throughout the entire building life cycle. The
fact that a large amount of and a wide range of materials used in construction
makes their environmental impacts important. In this context, Environmental
Product Declarations contribute to compare the environmental impacts of the
building materials with the same functional unit for the same processes. Fired
clay brick (FCB) and autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) are commonly used
materials for the exterior walls in Turkey. In this study, it was aimed to
analyze the environmental impacts and identify environmental hot spots to
improve the sustainability of the two materials in the scope of the “cradle to
gate”. EPDs and local data obtained from two factories through mutual
interviews were used. The environmental impacts of FCB caused by raw materials
acquisition and transportation are less than AAC. On the other hand, the
manufacturing of FCB is an energy-intensive process because of the firing and
firing temperatures compared to the manufacturing process of AAC. It is thought
that the results of this study can be useful to improve the sustainability of
the materials and to select sustainable building materials.

Keywords

Aerated concrete, brick, sustainability

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