Abstract

The methodology that integrates the three sustainability pillars, from a life cycle perspective, is called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA). LCSA provides the highest level of assessment among the existing tools, as it allows a holistic understanding of the sustainability of products and processes, which translates into better support for decision-makers. In this work, LCSA was carried out considering the combined application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), to evaluate and compare the environmental, social and economic impacts of lattice joist precast slabs based on three scenarios: (I) conventional concrete, (II) slabs produced from concrete with the addition of tire rubber residue, (III) slabs produced from concrete with the addition of tire rubber residue and rice hulk ash (RHA). The SimaPro software and the Ecoinvent database were used to conduct the analyses, in addition to prices from local construction materials suppliers and official public data on Brazilian society. The Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods used were ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint Hierarquist v.1.01, in the environmental pillar; material acquisition, transportation and energy costs in the economic pillar; Reference Scale Approach focused on the category Workers in the social pillar. It was possible to conclude that Scenario I was the most adequate alternative, even though it did not have alternative materials in its composition. The replacement of tire rubber waste by sand in Scenarios II and III proved to be disadvantageous from the point of view of sustainability, even with the slight improvement by also replacing part of the cement with RHA in Scenario III.