CO2 emissions related to building materials transportation in Brazil: comparative study on structural ceramic and concrete bricks

Abstract The CO2 Emission Life Cycle Assessment (CO2LCA) of a product involves quantifying CO2 emissions in the pre-use, use and end-of-life stages. The pre-use stage involves industry, execution and transportation stages. The aim of this paper is to study CO2 emissions of ceramic and concrete bricks, based on data collection of emissions in the industry and transportation stages, evaluating the impact of the transportation stage of these materials in 26 Brazilian capitals. Therefore, research was carried out in manufacturing companies classified in the "Brazilian Sectoral Quality Program". The transportation distances from the industries to the capitals were analysed using Google Maps. The results have shown that the capitals located in the North and Southeast regions presented the highest and lowest emission values related to transportation for both types of bricks, respectively. The contribution of the transportation phase, related to total emissions, was higher for concrete bricks for most of the capitals. At the end of the paper, so as to minimise the subjectivity of considering the transportation stage in the CO2LCA studies, a matrix and flowchart were proposed to manage the transport phase in this kind of study.