Environmental life cycle analysis of earthen building materials

This study addresses the potential of using earthen materials/building solutions in the design of contemporary buildings in the Portuguese context. Additionally, it presents specific cradle-to-gate environmental information related to the compressed earth block (CEB) and rammed earth processes of a Portuguese construction company. At the end, it compares the environmental performance of these two vernacular materials with the one that is being used in contemporary construction (ceramic brick). As an outcome, this research shows that using earthen building materials will result in substantial environmental savings when compared to brick walls that fulfil the same functional requirements.FEDER funds through the Competitivity and Inter-nationalization Operational Programme (POCI) and by national funds through FCT–Foundation for Science and Technologywithin the scope of the project with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-029328, and of the PhD grant with the reference PD/BD/113641/2015, that were fundamental for the development of this study. The authors also wish to thank the construction companyfor providing the life cycle inventory data and supporting this research wor