Comparative LCA of pipe materials to assess the environmental impact of residential building installations

More than one third of energy demand and greenhouse gases emissions in EU are related to buildings. For operation phase heating systems have the big share in energy demand, whereas for construction concrete and steel are the main responsible for GHG emissions. The EU Green Deal outline 55 different aspects required to promote the green transition and in order to assess that a holistic and multicriteria analysis is required. Indeed, environmental impact involves energy consumption, GHG, and other aspects. Embedded energy, resources depletion, acidification and ecotoxicity are examples of relevant environmental categories. In this respect, building elements like pipe installations can potentially play an important role for some of this categories. PE, PVC, PEX, copper and stainless steel are examples of different pipe materials used in buildings. So, the aim of this study is to assess the environmental impacts of residential buildings installations made with different pipe materials. The environmental impact analysis was performed using LCA methodology. LCA was carried out in 4 phases: goal and scope definition, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and Interpretation. The results shows that the environmental impacts from different pipe materials can lead to completely different impact results. The diversity of raw materials, manufacturing process, and construction procedures among pipe types was reflected in the LCA results, differing in terms of carbon footprint and other categories. Buildings aiming to minimize environmental impacts must consider pipe choice a relevant aspect.