The impact of transport on the life cycle of PVC and PEX pipes in a country of continental dimensions

• Autor(a) principal: César Matias Gonçalves, Rigley
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Martins de Paula, Heber
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: P@ranoá
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/paranoa/article/view/46906
• topic: Tubo de PVC; Tubo PEX; Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida; Transporte; Português; Tubería PVC; tubería PEX; análisis de ciclo de vida; transporte; PVC pipe; pex pipe; life cycle assessment; transportation

The transport sector and civil construction are examples of branches of the economy that, while expanding, increase their share of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere, going against the concepts of sustainable development. An artifact that can contribute to improving this scenario is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a methodology that studies the environmental conduct of activities and/or products. However, despite being an efficient tool, most LCAs have ignored the influences of transport, an act that can result in misleading data, especially in countries with continental dimensions, such as Brazil. A certain lack of LCAs for building systems products is observed. In this context, the objective is to detect the participation of transport in CO2 emissions in the life cycle of PVC and PEX pipes. Road transport between Brazilian factories and strategic cities in the country was evaluated using databases and modeling software. It was verified that for the north region, the transport of PEX can be responsible for up to 76% of the carbon gas emissions of the material's life cycle, while in the southeast region, the index did not exceed 3% for both pipelines.