Greenhouse gases are becoming bigger and bigger polluter of our planet. Carbon dioxide represents
the largest part of greenhouse gases (70 %), because of that we represent carbon footprint with CO2
equivalent (CO2-e). We will compare assembled construction complexes and their carbon footprint in
this graduation thesis. At first we will explain what greenhouse gases are and how they are formed.
Then we will present some of the studies that research field of materials in constructional complexes
and connection with its carbon footprint. Slovenian, European and global legislation about carbon
footprint will also be explained. In constructional complexes we will change materials for load-bering
construction (reinforced concrete, brick, wood, steel and aluminum) and thermal insulation (expanded
polystyrene and rockwool). Among all versions of constructional complexes wood and expanded
polystyrene gave as the best results in sustainable perspective. The worst results gave us the
combination with brick and rockwool. Steel and aluminum have the biggest carbon footprint, wood
has the smallest. Nevertheless carbon footprint of constructional complexes with steel or aluminum is
just a little worse than constructional complexes with wood. We got a lot better results with light
weight load-bearing construction (wood, steel, aluminum) then the massive systems type of loadbearing
construction (reinforced concrete, brick) because less material is needed per unit area for the
same effect.
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