Life Cycle Assessment of a Road Transverse Prestressed Wooden–Concrete Bridge

Abstract

Through its anthropogenic activities in construction, human society is increasingly burdening the environment with a predominantly adverse impact. It is essential to try to use building materials that allow us to build environmentally friendly buildings. Therefore, this article deals with the determination of the environmental performance of a cross-prestressed timber-reinforced concrete bridge using life cycle assessment (LCA) compared with a reinforced concrete road bridge with a similar span and load. The positive environmental performance of the wooden concrete bridge was proved, with a relatively small (22.9 Pt) total environmental damage. The most significant impact on the environment is made by the wood–concrete bridge materials in three categories of impacts: Respiratory inorganics (7.89 Pt, 79.94 kg PM2.5 eq), Global warming (7.35 Pt, 7.28 × 104 kg CO2 eq), and Non-renewable energy (3.96 Pt, 6.01 × 105 MJ primary). When comparing the wood–concrete and steel concrete road bridge, a higher environmental performance of 28% per m2 for the wood–concrete bridge was demonstrated. Based on this environmental assessment, it can be stated that knowledge of all phases of the life cycle of building materials and structures is a necessary step for obtaining objective findings of environmental damage or environmental benefits of building materials or structures.