The Life Cycle Assessment of Italian clay brick products.

The increasing market demand for life-cycle-based quantified environmental data first boosts the Italian bricks and tiles manufacturers association (ANDIL) to develop relevant and reliable information, target at users and designers, about environmental performance of their products. The approach to a Life Cycle Analysis of building products supposes a more exhaustive thinking in order to single out environmental impacts of each phase of the cycle. Impact data related to production and transport of building materials are partial, indeed, by the requirement of a second processing that makes them effectively usable in construction, involving new inputs and other complemental materials. Therefore, beyond the factory's gate, the life cycle inventory, become more complex due to the level-jump from the clay product to the building component, as an assembly of products and materials with very distinct technical, functional features and performances, and, consequently, with different life cycles. In this framework, the paper outlines objectives and first outcomes of research, carried out by TAED, focused on settling the methodology for a LCA of clay brick throughout its entire useful life, moving from the production to the product’s use within technical solutions, with their performances in use and their management requirements and, finally their end of life.