Análisis comparativo de metodologías de evaluación de impactos ambientales aplicadas en el sector de la construcción

Abstract

Buildings account the 19 % of global resource consumption, the construction sector consumes 40 % of energy and materials, and 16 % of water. In Ecuador this sector was the third economic activity generating environmental impact for three consecutive years, and more than 74 % of construction companies did not have any type of environmental permission for their operation until 2018. Ecuador's environmental regulations establish the maximum permissible limits and the variables that must be considered in an environmental evaluation. However, it does not detail a methodology or guidance for conducting an environmental assessment in the construction sector. The present research aims to establish guidelines that facilitate the selection of an appropriate environmental evaluation methodology for the construction sector. For this purpose, it was carried out a multi-criteria comparative analysis of methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Water Footprint, Carbon Footprint, Leopold matrix, Battelle Columbus Environmental Evaluation and Conesa Fernández method. The comparative analysis has a set of 7 criteria, 21 sub-criteria and 62 variables that determine the evaluation performance of each methodology in 100 points. Additionally, a construction section was defined that analyzes the performance of the methodologies in 18 impact categories and 19 impact activities throughout the life cycle of a building. The results showed that the LCA was the methodology with the best performance with a score of 100. The Conesa Fernández method showed the next best performance with 75. The Battelle Columbus and Leopold matrices scored 68 and 60 respectively. The Water Footprint scored 47, and the Carbon Footprint scored very low at 14 points. Finally, 50 guidelines were proposed and were validated with experts, reaching an acceptance level of 80 % without any major observations. It was concluded that the main difference between them is the level of analysis they allow when identifying, assessing, or evaluating environmental impacts, to select a methodology of environmental evaluation is important to consider several criteria, and guidelines support the evaluator in making informed decisions