Development of the CO2 Emission Evaluation Tool for the Life Cycle Assessment of Concrete

Abstract

With the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26.9% below business-as-usual by 2020, the construction industry is recognized as an environmentally harmful industry because of the large quantity of consumption and waste with which it is associated, and the industry has therefore been requested to become more environmentally friendly. Concrete, a common construction material, is known to emit large amounts of environmentally hazardous waste during the processes related to its production, construction, maintenance, and demolition. To aid the concrete industry's efforts to reduce its GHG emissions, this study developed a software program that can assess GHG emissions incurred over the life cycle of a concrete product, and a case study was conducted to determine the impact of the proposed concrete assessment program on a construction project.