Life Cycle Inventory of Ceramic Brick, Concrete Block and Construction and Demolition Waste Brick: Case Study in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The expansion of the recycling market basically depends on making the use of recycled aggregates viable. In that direction strategies and scientific methodologies are welcome to meet the Agenda 21. However, it is difficult to find appropriate measurement methods. For this reason, creating databases that associate the life cycle of materials and processes with consumption and discard of the materials could be a starting point in supporting environmentally up-to-date choices. Carbon dioxide stands out among the impacts of construction materials. Carbon footprint is a subset of the Life Cycle Assessment study, and in the present political context, in general in countries in the Northern Hemisphere it is one of the most-used factors in the decision process regarding sustainable consumption and production. The objective of this article was to show the first approximation about the develop an inventory of bricks made with construction and demolition waste in Belo Horizonte in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, and Compared to the other blocks: concrete, ceramic. The material components of the life cycles of the agents involved in this study were input into Umberto software, defining the unit for each type of material separated into groups (work folders in Umberto). These work folders were created for energy, emissions, raw materials, supply and other items, and flow networks are presented. Three different scenarios were created: the ceramic brick manufacturing scenario; the concrete block manufacturing scenario; and the CDW block manufacturing scenario. This first study, the inventory is fundamental for the directives of Life Cycle Assessment in Belo Horizonte. Using this starting point, a comparison is made between the production process inventory of concrete blocks and ceramic bricks. This comparison was related only to CO2 emission parameters. The following methods were used for this: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) with reverse logic to obtain data from the point of consumption to the point of origin. Supplies for manufacturing ceramic block, concrete block, and extraction of non-renewable resources are taken from literature. Flow networks were developed for both processes on Umberto software and were compared. The objectives, scope, functional unit, systems, limits and results of this LCA are presented graphically and with a Sankey diagram with discussion. The main contribution of the article refers to sustainable use when considering choice of construction material with less environmental costs through the lens of "carbon footprint"

Civil Engineering Inspection for Real Estate Evaluation with the Use of Artificial Learning Algorithms and Fuzzy Logic

The technical inspection of a building carried out by an expert in civil engineering can identify and classify the physical conditions of the real estate; this generates relevant information for the protection and safety of users. Given the real conditions of the property, and for the real estate valuation universe, using artificial intelligence and fuzzy logic, it is possible to obtain the market price associated with the physical conditions of the building. The objective of this experiment is to develop a property evaluation model using a civil engineering inspection form associated with artificial intelligence, and fuzzy logic, and also compare with market value to verify the applicability of this inspection form. Therefore, the methodology used is based on technical inspection of civil engineering regarding the state of conservation of properties according to the model used in Portugal and adapted to the reality of Latvia. Artificial intelligence is applied after obtaining data from that report. From this, association rules are obtained, which are used in the diffuse logic to obtain the price of the apartment per square meter, and for comparison with the market value. For this purpose, 48 samples of residential apartments located in the city of Jelgava in Latvia are used, with an inspection carried out from October to December 2019. The main result is the 9% error metric, which demonstrates the possibility of applying the method proposed in this experiment. Thus, for each apartment sample consulted, it resulted in the state of conservation and a market value associated