Status and trends of low carbon activities of construction materials in Korea

Abstract

A building is a structure constructed using various methods. An enormous amount of resources and energy is invested in the construction of buildings. In order to reduce the energy spent and the environmental load incurred by the construction of buildings, it is necessary to first reduce the energy spent in and the environmental load of each material involved in the construction of buildings. To achieve low carbon greenhouse gas emissions and energy goals, locally as well as internationally, both public and private sectors have focused on improving the environmental impact of products. This paper discusses the low carbon activities of the construction material industry. Here, we investigate the trend of each country in policy support and technological innovation for realizing low carbon activities. We also analyze the carbon dioxide emissions of certified carbon labeled construction materials. Because the process of producing construction materials makes it difficult to reduce the generation of carbon, only 68 items of a total of 962 items were certified as carbon labeled materials. However, leading material manufacturers are ready to recognize certified carbon labeling as an important process in order to gain the customer's trust and play a leading role.