Abstract
With the exponential growth in development of cities and increasing demand for construction, which is one of the factors in environmental degradation, the need for CO2 emissions control is essential. In order to balance carbon emissions along the life-cycle of concrete structures; in this paper, we have analysed the carbon emissions and assessed the carbon footprint of selected concrete structures in a tropical city. For this purpose, the carbon footprint has been evaluated using Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) approach at different stages concrete structures’ life-cycle, which are production, construction, operation, and demolition stages, where the CO2 footprint of two residential buildings in Malaysia have been analysed as case studies. The findings indicated that the energy consumption, and the production phase in the life-cycle of a concrete structure are the main contributors of CO2 emission. In addition, detailed analysis of the carbon cycle in structures and their interaction with other components involved in the regional eco-system can lead to a significant reduction in CO2 emission, and thus to the improvement in reducing environmental deterioration and its consequences. Moreover, optimised design and customisation to the constituents of concrete, as well as improving citizens’ consumption agenda can significantly reduce the carbon emission of concrete structures.
Highlights
The emission of greenhouse gases is one of the major problems facing civilisation in the modern world
The carbon emission of concrete building’s life-cycle can be monitored using the Life-Cycle Carbon Emission Assessment (LCCEA) model, which has been developed in the Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) method (Jahandideh et al, 2017)
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2018), emission of CO2 in residential buildings arise from three main sources; industrial and chemical activity, transportation, and energy consumption
Summary
The emission of greenhouse gases is one of the major problems facing civilisation in the modern world To address this issue, it is essential to incorporate all the industrial sectors, which are responsible for the global CO2 emissions in the analysis process of carbon footprint contribution. Substantial amount of research has been undertaken on the utilisation of concrete and its different ingredients, and cement replacements materials in concrete production (Rohden & Garcez, 2018) Notwithstanding differing views on the exact life-cycle of a concrete structures, a 50 years’ life-cycle for residential buildings have been considered in this study Based on this definition, the life-cycle length of time can be construed as starting from the material production cycle until their end of life (Besten et al, 2018). In order to determine the CO2 emission and environmental impact of a building, there is a need to study these components throughout all its life-cycle phases
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