Evaluation of Global Warming Potential in Living Wall System in Medellín using Life Cicle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) have emerged as essential tools for identifying critical environmental aspects across the life cycle of products, processes, or services, thereby helping to reduce associated environmental impacts, compare alternative scenarios and implement strategies for enhanced sustainability. This methodology has been applied to Living Wall Systems (LWSs), which are conceived as sustainable systems designed to improve environmental conditions in the built environment. However, context-specific analyses are required for tropical countries, as well as system designs that can more effectively account for their entire life cycle. The aim of this study is to evaluate the Global Warming category of a LWS in the city of Medellín through life cycle modeling using SimaPro software (version 10.1.0.6). For the environmental inventory, the Ecoinvent® v3.10 database was employed, covering materials, energy, transportation, and end-of-life processes, with a focus on the Global Warming Potential (GWP) impact category. The results show a total of 39.11 kg CO₂ eq for the entire system. Of this, the Construction stage accounted for 34.67 kg CO₂ eq, representing 89% of the total (GWP) impact category. This highlights the need for special attention during this stage, particularly regarding the polyethylene pipe for the irrigation system (21.79 kg CO₂ eq) and the reinforcing steel used in the support structure (11.84 kg CO₂ eq).