Mitigação de Impactos Ambientais Através do Uso de Materiais de Construção Ecológicos. Estudo de Caso: Tijolos Ecológicos Comparados a Tijolos Cerâmicos

Abstract

It is conceived as ecological building material, one that does not promote in its manufacture and / or application great harm to the environment, thus allowing the reduction of environmental impacts caused by the construction industry. The soil-cement brick, also called ecological brick, derived from the pressing of soil, cement and water, appeared in the market of the civil construction as a sustainable alternative, mainly in relation to the ceramic bricks conventionally used. The present study aims to characterize the material, presenting the possibilities of mitigating environmental impacts through its use, in addition to applying tests in order to verify if it meets the same requirements as ceramic blocks. Because it is an ecological material, it is extremely important to explain its characteristics, above all, by the worrisome role of the construction industry in the current environmental degradation. In the course of this study, the soft body and hard body impact test was carried out on ecological bricks, aiming to identify if they meet the current performance standard, and the tests of compressive strength and water absorption index in ecological bricks and ceramic, thus allowing the comparison of the characteristics of the different materials. In addition, the performance of ecological and ceramic bricks was compared in the generation of solid waste, in the consumption of energy and naturalresources, in deforestation and in atmospheric pollution, thus identifying which of the materials would be most beneficial to the environment.