Environmental Impact of a Shellhouse in the South African Context

Abstract

Sustainable construction techniques and the reduction of environmental impacts are very important components in today’s society. As the consequences of emissions are already noticeable today, construction companies aim at new way to provide affordable adequate housing and at the same time reduce the ecological footprint. The present study is motivated by a new approach developed by the Citra Group AG, called the Shellhouse. This house is introduced as a new competitor in the South African housing market. Using a composite technology consisting of an expanded polystyrene core covered by plaster. The shell of the house in this way provides insulation and at the same time load- bearing capacity. To compare its environmental impact with a typical South African housing unit (RDP house), system boundaries are defined, a functional unit is set and the bills of materials are calculated for each housing type. Then Life Cycle Assessments are performed for two different production ways of the Shellhouse and two different production ways of the RDP house. The results are used to develop further potential improvements to decrease the environmental impact of the Shellhouse.