Environmental assessment of ultralight roof structures built with new materials: the case of the etfe cushions.

This paper quantifies environmental impact aspects of the recent pneumatic roofing system made of multi-layer etfe films in a lifetime perspective. A comparison with a similar high transparency system, a glazing system, is needed in order to understand its environmental efficiency. Two existing covering systems (an etfe pneumatic roof and a glazing roof), designed to contain a thermal buffer zone between buildings, have been chosen in order to apply the Life Cycle Assessment methodology: the material and building stage have been considered, giving a further insight to evaluate different design choices and technical solutions. The results about the LCA application in the building field show the advantage of the lightweight structure, reducing the involved material amount and highlight the importance of the light technical solutions assessment both at the material stage (relating to their own specific gravity), both at the roof subsystems stage and even better at a building scale.