The environmental impacts of an innovative modular lightweight steel system: The Elissa case

A responsible use of resources is necessary to achieve a drastic reduction of environmental impact of the construction sector. This paper investigates the environmental impacts of a new dry construction based on the adoption of cold formed steel (CFS) members as main structural components, which was developed during the ELISSA European FP7 project. The peculiarity of the system is to achieve both high seismic and thermal performance. The first prototype, cited in this paper as ELISSA mock-up, was realized in the laboratory of University of Naples Federico II. The development of the prototype was a fundamental source for a precise evaluation of the environmental impacts. The quality of data in Life Cycle analysis (LCA) is indeed critical for the validity of any study. This paper presents the first LCA of a CFS house, which is based on a real case. The LCA is carried out according to a “Cradle to gate approach, with options EN 15804:2012 + A1: Production and Construction; End of Life”. The study demonstrates that when materials are carefully selected to reduce operational energy as well as embodied carbon, then the structural system is highly responsible for the LCA impacts. However, when one square meter of the ELISSA mock-up wall is compared to a conventional reinforced masonry wall, than the environmental impacts are much lower than those of the conventional system. This study demonstrates that the ELISSA wall with a thickness, which is one fifth of a comparable conventional system, presents Global Warming Potential that are drastically lower.