LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT APPLIED TO CONTAINER BUILDINGS: CRITICAL REVIEW AND CONTRIBUTIONS FOR RESEARCH STANDADIZATION

Abstract

The container construction system has become attractive for civil construction when recycling and reusing a product, but its much-publicized sustainability has yet to be proven, as it must consider the environmental, economic and social aspects of its complete life cycle. One of the consolidated tools that covers all these issues is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Thus, this work aims to execute a critical review of the literature on the Life Cycle Assessment of buildings built with containers, identify the best practices and deficiencies, using ISO standards as a reference, and propose recommendations for future studies in this area. The methodology used for the systematic review was the Knowledge Development Process – Constructivist (Proknow-C). As a result, the work brings to light recommendations for better LCA practices applied to container buildings. For example, the functional unit (FU) adopted must be explained in detail, as the modules evaluated have different standardizations. Several gaps were highlighted, such as the need to expand studies on other environmental impacts, in addition to energy use and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. Finally, the critical review carried out identified a series of points that need greater clarity or to be made explicit. Thus, there is a latent need to standardize the studies, for a better practice of LCA. With the adoption of a standardized protocol, it will be possible to obtain more robust results that can be easily compared with other studies.