Environmental assessment of a new building envelope material derived from urban agriculture wastes: the case of the tomato plants stems

Abstract

Purpose Decarbonizing cities is one of today’s biggest challenges. In this regard, particular attention has been paid on improving the environmental performance of buildings. In this framework, this work consists in assessing the environmental impact of an innovative building envelope component derived from urban agriculture (UA) wastes. In fact, rooftop UA seems to be a possible solution to the rising food demand due to increasing urban demographic growth. Consequently, rooftop UA wastes need to be treated in sustainable ways. Methods This study aims to determine the carbon footprint and embodied energy of a new infill wall material, derived from UA wastes produced by a building rooftop greenhouse tomato crop, and evaluate the potential biogenic carbon that such by-product could fix temporally until its end of life. After an initial description of the manufacturing process of the new material, its carbon footprint and embodied energy have been calculated by means of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology according to the ISO 14044 and the ISO 14067 guidelines adapted to the analyzed context. In particular, the inventory analysis is based on data collected from the production of samples of the new material at the laboratory scale. Results and discussion The results of the LCA indicate that, when the biogenic carbon fixed in the UA wastes is considered, a negative carbon footprint of − 0.2 kg CO2 eq. per kg of material can be obtained. Hence, it can be assumed that from a life cycle perspective the material is able to fix carbon emissions instead of emitting them. Specifically, for the considered scenario, approximately 0.42 kg CO2 eq./m2 per year could be sequestered. However, the crop area required to produce enough waste to manufacture a unit of material is quite high. Therefore, future studies should focus on individuate solutions to reduce the density of the new component, and also different urban crops with higher waste production rates. Conclusions The outcomes of the study put in evidence the potential of the new proposed infill wall component in fixing carbon emissions from UA, allowing to also compensate those relating to the production and transportation stages of the component life cycle. Moreover, producing by-products with UA wastes, hence temporally storing the carbon fixed by crops, may contribute to reduce the carbon cycles speed conversely to traditional waste management solutions, other than lower new raw materials depletion.

Regenerative Development Model: A Life Cycle-Based Methodology for the Definition of Regenerative Contribution Units (RCUs)

“…For this reason, the role of life cycle assessment (LCA) [22,23] in the context of decarbonization and carbon neutrality has been recently highlighted in the special issue entitled "Life cycle assessment in the context of decarbonization and carbon neutrality" [24]. It covers the following topics (i) consistent GHG accounting and assessment through LCA, emphasizing the challenges of double counting, the potential underestimation of environmental impacts, and the overestimations of beneficial effects of temporary carbon storage [25,26], (ii) the mitigation measures recently proposed in several sectors such as transport, building, and agricultural sector [27][28][29] as well as issues related to carbon emission offsetting [30]. Consequently, the topics currently addressed by the LCA community are limited to carbon footprint calculation and offsetting assessment, not accounting for other relevant impacts, such as ecological footprint and water footprint.…”

Sustainable Recovery of an Agricultural Area Impacted by an Oil Spill Using Enhanced Phytoremediation

“…The low cost and simplicity of operation combined with the obvious environmental benefits [12] fuel interest in these phytotechnologies, also in combination with other green strategies to further reduce the overall carbon footprint [13,14]. Also included in this discourse are green roofs [15] and green-based materials derived from agricultural waste [16], which allow for an improvement of the energetic and environmental performance of urbanized areas by combining constructed wetland techniques with other approaches in order to alleviate the increasing effects of climate changes [17][18][19].…”

Comparing the Standards of Life Cycle Carbon Assessment of Buildings: An Analysis of the Pros and Cons

“…Assembly buildings and green buildings are superior to traditional buildings in many aspects [27,28]. The use of bio-materials in the retrofitting of traditional buildings can facilitate the reduction of carbon emissions of buildings [29,30]. There are also researchers focusing on the variability of LCA structures due to differences in life cycle databases [31].…”