Comparative life cycle assessment of earth and cement based plasters in composite bamboo shear walls

This paper presents a comparative environmental performance of three variants of a vernacular-inspired bamboo wall typology known as Composite Bamboo Shear Walls, using either a Cement (CBSW) or Cement-free Earthen plaster (EBSW) and a rib lath (CBF) or a flattened bamboo (CBSW & EBSW) matrix. These were compared against standard concrete hollow block wall. A comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) covering life cycle stage A (product & construction) was conducted, accompanied by a simplified cost assessment. The functional unit was defined as a 2.4 m × 2.5 m shear wall panel (5.1 m²) based on full-scale structural tests. Results show that, compared with a standard concrete hollow block wall, CBSWs reduce production-phase emissions by 59% (≈160 kg CO 2-eq), and EBSWs by 82% (≈70 kg CO 2-eq). When biogenic carbon storage was included on the calculation, CBSWs reach −6 kg CO2-eq and EBSWs −83 kg CO2-eq. Costs remained at similar level. This highlights the potential of combining modern engineering with vernacular materials to deliver regenerative, affordable, and structurally viable housing solutions in climate-vulnerable regions.