The impact of the use of adobe as masonry in the operational and embodied emissions of dwellings, considering the urban heat island effect and the changing climate in Puebla, Mexico.



Cruz Juarez, Roberto ORCID: 0000-0003-4643-2792
(2023) The impact of the use of adobe as masonry in the operational and embodied emissions of dwellings, considering the urban heat island effect and the changing climate in Puebla, Mexico. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to assess part of the environmental problems associated with the built environment in Puebla, which is the fourth largest metropolitan area in Mexico with over 3 million inhabitants and has one of the highest population growth rates in the country. This is done by using Environmental Product Declarations to analyse the embodied emissions in cement, which is the most widespread construction material in the area, and comparing it to adobe (unfired earth blocks). Two case study dwellings, each one built with one of these construction techniques, were analysed, quantifying their embodied emissions. Additionally, the performance of the dwellings was evaluated considering the impact of the urban heat island effect in the area. To do this, six locations across the urban sprawl of Puebla were selected, ranging from SITE 0, in the city centre, to SITE 5, 21.10km away. The case study dwellings were modelled in these two locations to determine their performance under the current climate. Then, projections were made for the year 2080 under three different representative concentration pathways for climate change, and the performance of the dwellings was assessed considering their indoor temperatures, and their electricity consumption if air conditioning was required. The city of Puebla was found to have an urban heat island effect that reflects on temperatures in the city’s centre being on average 2.43°C, and at times up to 11°C warmer than the areas surrounding the urban sprawl of town. Climate change in the area was found to be already precent with 2020’s average temperatures being 1.23°C warmer than in 2011, and that year registering warmer temperatures than what the IPCC’s model forecasted for the area in the year 2080. Adobe was found to have considerably lower levels of embodied emissions associated with its life cycle when compared to cement-based elements. House 1 was calculated to have 49.6% less CO2e embodied emissions per m2 when built with adobe walls, and House 2, 53.9% less CO2e emissions than the same dwellings made with cement. Finally, it was found that with the current climate in the area, dwellings made with cement achieved less time within a comfortable range of temperatures than the same dwellings built with adobe. Nevertheless, considering the increasing temperatures for the area, the same properties that give adobe dwellings an advantage today, could mean that they would require higher volumes of electricity to cool down in the future.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 16 Feb 2023 11:03
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2023 11:03
DOI: 10.17638/03168084
Supervisors:
  • Chow, David
  • Finnegan, Stephen
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3168084