Analysis of the environmental impact associated with the materials of construction used in the low cost houses of the program 10 x10 With Roof-Chiapas of the CYTED

Abstract

The objective of the present work is the analysis of the environmental impact of the construction materials used in the building of ten low cost houses constructed within the Program 10x10 With Roof- Chiapas, propose by the investigators of the Ibero- American Program of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED), to verify if these technological proposals of roof are environmentally more sustainable than the constructive system of the roof most demanded in the central region of Chiapas. With the support of the environmental information provided in the database BEDEC PR/PCT of the Institute of the Construction of Catalonia (ITeC), and following the methodological pattern applied in the analysis of the environmental impact of the constructive materials in Lanzarote’s island, there has been evaluated every constructive product of the above mentioned housings along their life cycle assessment (LCA), with the purpose of specifying the interaction of the products with the environment: the energy cost and emissions of CO₂. The obtained results show us that the technologies which material bases are the common brick and mortar, the concrete and the ferrocemento do not represent a signifi cant saving in the employment of the quantities of materials in the roofs of arid, cement, steel and water, and in consequence, prove with similar environmental impacts to the reference housing. Using quantities of energy and generating emissions of CO₂ higher to the resultants in the construction of the roofs with wooden structures and ceramic tiles.