Comparison of Carbon Dioxide Emissions of the Ordinary Reinforced Concrete Slab and the Voided Slab System During the Construction Phase: A Case Study of a Residential Building in South Korea

Inkwan Paik,Seunguk Na

doi:10.3390/su11133571

Abstract

The construction industry not only consumes a lot of energy but also emits large volumes of carbon dioxide. Most countries have established target reduction values of the carbon dioxide emissions to alleviate environmental burdens and promote sustainable development. The reduction in carbon dioxide emissions in the construction industry has been taking place in various ways as buildings produce large quantities of the carbon dioxide over their construction life cycle. The aim of this study is to assess and compare the carbon dioxide emissions of an ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the voided slab system applied to a case study involving a commercial-residential complex building in South Korea. Process-based life-cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted to compute the carbon dioxide emissions during the construction phase, which includes all processes from material production to the end of construction. The results indicate that the total CO2 emissions are 257,230 and 218,800 kg CO2 for the ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the voided slab system, respectively. The highest contributor to CO2 reduction is the embodied carbon dioxide emissions of the building materials, which accounts for 34,966 kg CO2. The second highest contributor is the transportation of the building materials, accounting for 3417 kg CO2.

Highlights

It is recognised that the construction industry consumes a lot of energy and emits a large volume of carbon dioxide per [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
It would be possible to reduce the beams and girders in the structural members of the voided slab system by increasing the area moment of inertia due to the increased depth of the slab. This would make it an additional structural member. These results indicate that replacing the ordinary reinforced concrete slab with the voided slab system would be beneficial to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions in the building materials
The results reveal total CO2 emissions of 257,230 and 218,800 kg CO2 for the ordinary reinforced concrete slab and the voided slab system, respectively

Summary

Introduction

It is recognised that the construction industry consumes a lot of energy and emits a large volume of carbon dioxide per [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. According to the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the construction industry accounts for approximately 40% of global energy consumption and contributes up to 30% to the total global carbon dioxide emissions [10]. Carbon dioxide emissions from the construction industry are expected to more than double in the 20 years unless activities to reduce their quantity are undertaken, owing to rapid urbanisation and limited global housing stock [11]. To alleviate the environmental burdens and promote sustainable development, most countries have established target reduction values for carbon dioxide emissions. The construction industry has been exploring various approaches to achieve the target reduction value of carbon dioxide emissions. Many experts expect that efforts to mitigate carbon dioxide emissions in the construction sector, which produces a significant amount of carbon dioxide emissions, would contribute to a reduction in the total global carbon dioxide emissions [5,6,14,15,16,17]

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Conclusion