SUSTAINABILITY IN CONSTRUCTION

HOW DO WE ASSESS SUSTAINABILITY?

Sustainability must always be considered from different visions; economic, social and environmental.

The union between industrialized construction and high energy efficiency leads us to achieve sustainability. If we are capable of generalizing and democratizing industrialized construction without forgetting efficiency, we will be able to achieve a truly sustainable construction system that will allow more accessible housing for people with minimal impact on the planet.

In our sector, this word, “sustainability”, has been used a lot and badly, but the words do not make the concept, you have to be rigorous! How can we really analyze environmental sustainability?

From EVOWALL we believe that it can only be done from a complete, serious and transparent life cycle analysis (LCA), following the existing regulations and auditing with actors of proven solvency.

The use of an LCA allows real knowledge of the impact that our product or our construction will have throughout its useful life. This includes many variables, but we pay special attention to CO₂ emissions, energy consumption and water consumption.

ACV – EVOWALL

According to the EN 15804:2012+A2 standard, the phases to consider when carrying out an LCA are: product stage (1), construction stage (2), use stage (3) and end-of-life stage (4).
From EVOWALL as a manufacturer, we have placed special emphasis on the first two (1) and (2), where we are the most responsible:

• Product/manufacturing stage (A1-A3). Extraction and processing of all raw materials used, the processing of inputs involving secondary materials such as waste…,
• Transportation stage (A4). Transport of the products to the work.
• Construction stage (A5).

This tool allows the company to improve manufacturing and, therefore, reduce this impact in the future. Building with an industrialized system allows us to influence, much more than in traditional work, details of the manufacturing process (substitution of materials, modification of processes…,).

But if we analyze sustainability from a broad vision, it is evident that the Use Stage will be the most important throughout the useful life of the building and, therefore, from EVOWALL we have wanted to also incorporate the study of the impact of the use (3) of the building in its useful life (75-100 years) to get as close as possible to the real impact.

Finally, we still have an end-of-life study (4) pending as it is a complex analysis, but we hope to have good results because our panels will be removable and most of the raw materials used will be recyclable.

For this we have created, together with ITeC, a digital tool where for each building we manufacture we can accurately calculate the real impact of the commented phases (1-3) and allow us to visualize it.

Stand out

• Minimal construction impact with the EVOWALL industrialized system, where transportation and construction are practically irrelevant
• Its weight has the part of the use of the building and the importance of using criteria of maximum efficiency.

In short, this calculation tool gives technicians maximum information to choose the best option for the project they are studying and even take specific actions before starting; change of insulation materials, use of different industrialized elements, increase in the energy efficiency of the building, use of renewable energies… They can assess and compare each of the proposals with real values.

Without forgetting that the certification by ITeC guarantees the veracity of the data and allows work to increase sustainability, real sustainability.

Notes:

To prepare a life cycle analysis, we recommend, among others, the use and consultation of the following standards;

• EN 15804:2012+A2:2019, Sustainability of construction works. Environmental product declarations. Rules by category of construction products.
• ISO 14025:2010, Environmental labels and declarations – Environmental declarations t. III – Principles and procedures (similar to ISO 14025:2006).
• ISO 21930:2017, Sustainability of construction work – Environmental declaration of construction products (EN 15804).
• ISO 14040:2006, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Principles and framework.
• ISO 14044+A1:2018, Environmental management – Life cycle assessment.
• RCP 100. Construction products in general, v3 (05/27/2021).

Likewise, entities such as ITeC can certify these calculations.