Integrated life cycle assessment of passive house envelope alternatives in a hot-arid climate: The case of the Gaziantep ecological house

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a case study of LCA methodology applied to passive house in a hot-arid climate, useful for comparative material analysis.

🏢実務担当者:Architects and engineers can use the findings to select wall materials that minimize lifecycle carbon, especially considering local sourcing.

🏛政策担当者:Highlights the need for building codes that address both operational and embodied carbon, and the role of local materials in reducing transport emissions.

The growing demand for energy-efficient buildings has led to the widespread adoption of Passive House (PH) standards, emphasizing operational energy reduction through optimized insulation and airtight construction. However, the embodied environmental impacts of building materials remain a critical concern. This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment of the Gaziantep Ecological House, Turkey’s first PH-certified building, focusing on both operational and embodied carbon emissions across its construction phases. The study evaluates the A1-A3 (material extraction, processing, and manufacturing) and A4 (transportation) stages, incorporating various wall construction scenarios to assess their environmental trade-offs. The results reveal that while high-performance insulation materials contribute to energy efficiency, their embodied carbon emissions can significantly impact sustainability. Among alternative wall materials, brick-based scenarios exhibited the highest global warming, acidification, and eutrophication potentials due to high-temperature kiln-firing and fossil fuel dependency. Conversely, adobe (earthen) walls demonstrated the lowest environmental impact across multiple categories, reinforcing their viability as a low-carbon construction material. However, challenges related to moisture resistance and structural performance require further investigation. Additionally, hempcrete, often perceived as an environmentally friendly material, showed higher-than-expected ozone depletion potential due to its cementitious binder content, highlighting the trade-offs between carbon sequestration benefits and secondary environmental burdens. The study also underscores the critical role of transportation emissions (A4 phase), where locally sourced materials such as adobe and autoclaved aerated concrete significantly reduced transport-related carbon emissions compared to imported alternatives. Overall, this research emphasizes the need for a balanced approach to sustainable construction, integrating both operational energy efficiency and embodied carbon reduction. Future studies should explore hybrid material strategies, bio-based insulation alternatives, and circular economy principles to further minimize lifecycle environmental impacts. By integrating LCA-driven decision-making into early-stage building design, policymakers, architects, and engineers can optimize passive house construction for long-term environmental sustainability.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2026.556first seen 2026-07-07 05:14:19