Environmental Cost of Locally Manufactured Hollow Concrete Block in Jordan Using the Life Cycle Assessment Approach

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the embodied environmental loads of locally manufactured hollow concrete brick supply chain, as the most common building material in the Jordanian architecture context, where sustainability has gained mainstream attention in the recent decade as a response to the global quest for an environmentally responsible building sector.Design/methodology/approach -The quantitative framework of a streamlined, process-based LCA based on ISO 14040 series protocols was followed to evaluate, analyze, and interpret the energy consumption, water demand, and greenhouse gas emissions, of the detailed cradle-to-site production cycle of locally manufactured HCB, using two different production methods as real-life case studies.Findings -Formulating a generalized approach to calculate embodied energy in transportation via an obtained mathematical equation with distances and several desired produced brick units as the main variables, as well as estimating the consumed electrical energy values by brick plant machinery for any HCB unit count including their associated GHG emissions footprint.Practical implications -Reducing building's embedded impacts in the same way operational energy has already been reduced, fulfilling the concept of sustainability.Originality -Findings serve as a notable potential to aid Jordanians in establishing a reliable, transparent reference database, and ranking guidelines regarding national construction materials, assisting architects in materials selection decisions at early design stages, and possibly improving the environmental performance of materials supply procedures.