Embodied Carbon Reduction Through Material Reuse: A Case Study

Among the existing methods to analyze the environmental performance of buildings, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is presented with the purpose of evaluating the environmental impacts resulting from civil construction, from the extraction of raw material to the disposal of its waste. This sector is largely responsible for the emission of greenhouse gases, consequently, the future of construction is inclined towards making choices that prioritize environmental factors. This research conducts a case study to quantify the embodied carbon emissions avoided through the reuse of materials from the "Arena do Futuro," originally constructed for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), in the building of four new public schools. The projects were remodeled in Revit, and the environmental analyses were conducted utilizing the TRACI methodology within the One Click LCA tool. To illustrate the overall emission reduction, the case is compared with a baseline scenario where all materials undergo two life cycles within linear chains. With nearly the entire arena dismantled and its materials extensively reused, this study demonstrates that adopting Design for Disassembly (DfD)—a principle of the circular economy—along with material reuse, leads to a substantial 38% reduction in embodied carbon compared to the linear chain approach, providing a viable and effective path toward decarbonization. This research concludes that early planning for deconstruction effectively minimizes waste, highlighting its limitations, including the lack of a national database, the assumptions made, and the absence of operational carbon impact quantification.