The life cycle assessment of stabilized rammed earth reinforced with natural fibers in the context of Australia

The construction sector is actively working to minimize its embodied energy (EE) consumption through innovative approaches and sustainable materials, with a particular focus on reducing its environmental impacts and waste generation. Highlighting its potential as an environmentally friendly material, this study addresses a literature gap by investigating EE and potential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.reduction resulting from the use of natural fibers in the construction of stabilized rammed earth. A cradle-to-construction life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted on three different wall assemblies made of stabilized rammed earth (SRE) reinforced with natural fibers (NFs), based on the minimum insulation requirements of the Australian Construction Code (NCC) for three climate zones. In order to benchmark the outcomes, the results were compared with the environmental impacts of typical SRE and conventional wall assemblies. The results showed that substituting 2% of cement with NFs can significantly cut the environmental indicators (potential savings ranging from 37% to 49.7%) with the ADP fossil fuels as the most sensitive and Eutrophication (EP) as the least sensitive.