Concept Of Life Cycle Assessment Research Articles

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN 3D PRINTING FOR CONSTRUCTION: CURRENT STATE, BENEFITS, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE OUTLOOK

ABSTRACT The agenda of Industry 4.0 strongly affects design and construction at all its phases, and three-Dimensional Printing (3DP) is an essential part of it. The emerging technology has the potential to become a more valid and accepted form of construction. This research is based on a literature review regarding the relationships between the concepts of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and energy efficiency for 3DP in construction research to understand the developments. Systematic bibliometric and scientometric analyses are used as data analysis techniques to make a detailed comparison. The comparison allowed for assessing and determining the current state, benefits, limitations, and future outlook. Current research is based on insights examining materials first (80%), followed by walls (15%), buildings (11%), and 3DP technology (6%). The findings highlight that 3DP technology offers significant advantages in terms of time efficiency, reliability, ecological impact, and sustainability within the construction industry. However, several challenges, such as the complexity of material mixture content design, the lack of standardized 3DP materials and codes, and the limited availability of experts in the field, prevent its widespread adoption. Further advancement of 3DP requires the development of standards, policies, training and materials for its full implementation in the construction industry.

A review of extant literature and recent trends in residential construction waste reduction.

The residential construction sector in New Zealand and worldwide is experiencing increased criticism for generating substantial waste that poses environmental concerns. Accordingly, researchers have advocated implementing residential construction waste reduction (RCWR) strategies as a sustainable solution to managing construction waste (CW). This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of RCWR by analysing 87 articles from the Scopus database using bibliometric and critical review methods. The co-occurrence analysis of keywords revealed five clusters, in which five main themes emerged: (i) waste generation and management performance, (ii) prefabrication and life cycle assessment concepts, (iii) design concepts, (iv) circular economy and (v) decision-making concepts. The findings suggest that sustainable practices such as designing for waste reduction, prefabrication, waste quantification, three-dimensional printing and building information modelling can effectively achieve RCWR. The study also highlights the benefits of RCWR, including reducing environmental impacts, and identifies management, economic, legislative, technology and cultural barriers that affect the implementation of RCWR strategies. These results provide valuable insights to support future policy formulation and research direction for RCWR in New Zealand.

Occupational health risk assessment of PC production-caused pollution based on damage assessment and cyclic mitigation model

PurposeThe occupational health risk associated with the production of prefabricated concrete components is often overlooked. This paper will use a damage assessment and cyclic mitigation (DACM) model to provide individualized exposure risk assessment and corresponding mitigation management measures for workers who are being exposed.Design/methodology/approachThe DACM model is proposed based on the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA). The model uses Monte-Carlo simulation for uncertainty risk assessment, followed by quantitative damage assessment using disability-adjusted life year (DALY). Lastly, sensitivity analysis is used to identify the parameters with the greatest impact on health risks.FindingsThe results show that the dust concentration is centered around the mean, and the fitting results are close to normal distribution, so the mean value can be used to carry out the calculation of risk. However, calculations using the DACM model revealed that there are still some work areas at risk. DALY damage is most severe in concrete production area. Meanwhile, the inhalation rate (IR), exposure duration (ED), exposure frequency (EF) and average exposure time (AT) showed greater impacts based on the sensitivity analysis.Originality/valueBased on the comparison, the DACM model can determine that the potential occupational health risk of prefabricated concrete component (PC) factory and the risk is less than that of on-site construction. It synthesizes field research and simulation to form the entire assessment process into a case-base system with the depth of the cycle, which allows the model to be continuously adjusted to reduce the occupational health damage caused by production pollution exposure.

A game theoretic approach to contract-based enviro-economic coordination of wood pellet supply chains for bioenergy production

Wood pellets have gained global attention due to their economic availability and increasing demand for bioenergy as part of sustainable energy solutions. Management of the wood pellet supply chains, from feedstock harvesting to bioenergy conversion, is critical to ensure competitiveness in the energy markets. In this regard, wood pellets supply chain coordination can play a strategic role in enhancing the efficiency and reliability of bioenergy generation. This study proposes a contract-based coordination mechanism for wood pellet supply chains and compares its performance in alternative centralized and decentralized decision-making structures. A bi-level nonlinear game-theoretic approach with two economic and environmental objective functions is developed. It utilizes the concept of life cycle assessment in a Stackelberg leader–follower game to obtain the bioenergy equilibrium solutions. Further, this study examines the case of wood pellet supply chains in three remote Canadian communities. The aim is to showcase the practicality and significance of the proposed approach and interpret the findings. By focusing on these communities, the crucial role of supply chain coordination in fostering sustainable development, particularly, in the context of bioenergy generation is emphasized. The study colludes by advocating a number of avenues for future research.

Implementation of Core Competency and Life Cycle Assesment (LCA) In the CID Program Petani Maju 4.0 of PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam

This article aims to describe the importance of integrating the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the Community Involvement Development (CID) program. Based on Permen LHK 1/2021 concerning Proper, LCA must be the basis for every company to develop programs based on community empowerment. This article provides an overview of the case studies in PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam's CSR 4.0 Maju Farmer program which has integrated linkages with LCA. The LCA study of PT Pertamina Hulu Mahakam covers the cradle-to-grave function unit. Cradle-to-grave function The product systems studied for life cycle assessment have covered 100% of products, namely petroleum, natural gas and condensate production systems. The oil and gas production process certainly has an impact on the activities of people's lives which must be explained with a CSR-based community empowerment approach. The results of the integration of LCA and the CSR program of Farmers Maju 4.0 were able to utilize the company's 33 tons of organic waste into compost and alternative feed for livestock. As well as environmental improvements, it can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 259.2 kilograms of methane gas per year.

Energy Hub Optimization on Residential Building Case

The growth of the energy consumed, have led to the need of upgrading and restructuring the operation of existing energy systems in the building sector. In context, goals of reducing the primary energy consumption based on fossil fuels and the limitation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to the atmosphere, were set, in order to enhance the provision of affordable and generally clean energy for the citizens. In addition, the European Union (EU) promotes the utilization of energy systems based on Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Αll above highlight the importance of the decision-making process during the design phase of a building. For these reasons, this paper deals with the optimization of multi energy systems, introducing the concept of the Energy Hub, in order to cover the thermal demands of a residential building located in Thessaloniki (Greece). The proposed methodology includes the calculation of the building energy demands on a monthly basis via the simulation program FineGREEN19. Afterwards, a Mathematical Programming model was constructed, in order to provide the optimization scheme of multi energy systems, considering different criteria. The criteria include the minimization of economic, energy and environmental aspects, considering the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) was used to model the optimization problem. The results of Single Criteria Optimization problem figure out the contradictory between the criteria, showing that the use of the optimization models can improve and facilitate the building design.

Materials and Actor Network Theory, a way to flesh out Life Cycle Assessment?

LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is an established method to measure the economic, social and environmental impact of a good or a service, with particular attention to its value chain or its life cycle. However, it is heavily biased in favor of environmental issues, actually environmental burdens or stressors: the economic dimension is only tackled in LCC (Life Cycle Costing) and the social in a restricted approach called SLCA (Social Life Cycle Assessment). The idea of developing a more ambitious and wider encompassing method has been elusive, except when MFA (Material Flow Analysis) was proposed as an alternative and a competing discipline, but, eventually, the two methods proposed separate but complementary views of the world. In order to reach beyond LCA and its present weaknesses, it would be necessary to base the new approach on concepts embedded in SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) rather than in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) disciplines. This article describes the process under way to move in that direction. In a first step, a panorama will be drawn of the strengths and weaknesses of LCA and of LCT (Life Cycle Thinking). The analysis will focus on LCA weaknesses. On the way to extending LCA into SSH territory, an approach developed by Knowledge and Innovation, Italy, and called SCM (Social Cycle of Materials) looks at materials from a historical perspective. It shows how various resolutions (closures) are proposed to answer issues raised at different times, as a result of society’s demand. The method proposes a distinctly new way of looking at materials cycles. The connection between this new approach and the traditional LCA cycle remains, however, to be done. In this paper, we propose to use ANT (Actor Network Theory), a concept developed by Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and Madeleine Akrich, to propose reconstructing the concept of LCA. The approach ambitions to list the various “stakeholders” related to materials in their value chain, like what is done in LCA, but also across long time, like what is done in SCM, and to include all actors in the sense of ANT, which means inanimate objects as well as elements of the geosphere and of the biosphere. It is expected to gain some insight into moving away from the indicator-based style of LCA. Clearly, we are still exploring and, most probably, we may end up complementing traditional LCA, most certainly not replacing it.

Life cycle assessment teaching innovation: experiences from a Brazilian higher education institution

PurposeThe inclusion of sustainability in higher education courses has been debated in recent decades and has gained particular emphasis throughout the COVID-19. This paper aims to show how the context of the pandemic, which demanded the transition from in-person classes to virtual classes, was used to illustrate better the concepts of life cycle assessment (LCA) for Production Engineering students in a Brazilian University.Design/methodology/approachThe research strategy used was action research. Throughout the discipline offering, the environmental impacts resulting from in-person and remote classes were comparatively assessed through a practical activity using LCA. Students’ behaviour and perception of the activities were recorded by the professor and discussed with the other researchers on the team. At the end of the course, students answered a questionnaire to assess their satisfaction with different aspects of the discipline, and these data were analysed via Fuzzy Delphi.FindingsThe results focus on discussing the pedagogical aspects of this experience and not the environmental impacts resulting from each class modality. It was possible to notice a greater engagement of students when using a project that directly involved their daily activities (food, transportation, use of electronics, etc.) compared to the traditional approach of teaching LCA concepts. In this traditional approach, the examples focussed on the industrial sector, a more distant context from the reality of most students. Student feedback demonstrated great acceptance by them regarding the approach adopted.Originality/valueThis study contributes to expanding debates about sustainability insertion in higher education and the training of professionals more aligned with the sustainable development agenda.

Life cycle sustainable assessment of natural vs artificial lightweight aggregates

Optimal selection of concrete aggregates can promote sustainable construction practice from the bottom line, which is a feasible strategy to cope with resources crisis and solid waste pollution. In this study, a two-level tree structure framework was thus proposed for the sustainability assessment of lightweight aggregates (LWA) based on the life cycle assessment concept. The evaluation system was divided into four criteria categories marked as society demands, economic costs, environmental impacts and technical performance, and each of them was assigned a number of sub-index. A qualitative questionnaire survey with seven sub-index and a quantitative calculation with eight sub-index were executed in the target system. Sintering fly ash aggregates (SFFAA), cold-bonding fly ash aggregates (CBFAA), waste clay brick aggregates (WCBA) and natural pumice aggregates (NPA) were chosen as typical artificial and natural lightweight aggregates objectives and evaluated in the framework. Impact and sensitivity analyses were conducted to comparably discuss the sustainability of various lightweight aggregates. The impact analyses represented that the waste clay brick aggregate has better sustainability. The sensitivity analysis shows that the supply-demand relationship of raw materials greatly impacts the sustainability of lightweight aggregate, and the transportation distance of raw materials is the critical factor in the production of LWA. At the same time, artificial lightweight aggregates are sensitive to cement binder consumption, and zero cement addition or waste cement powder is an optimistic option. From the sustainable life cycle assessment results, waste clay brick aggregates, sintering fly ash aggregates and cold-bonding fly ash aggregates are suggested as the alternative to the natural pumice aggregates for the lightweight aggregates concrete production. The emphasis on the weight of the social dimension will tend to prefer the selection of SFAA, and the economic or environmental dimension will lead to the preference of CBFAA for sustainable development. The framework proposed in this work could be used in choosing other sustainable construction materials or cleaner products.

The life cycle assessment of subsurface drainage performance under rice-canola cropping system

The life cycle assessment (LCA) concept is a widely used tool to assess the environmental aspects of any activity throughout its life cycle. This study is the first application of LCA for assessing the agro-environmental sustainability of subsurface drainage systems under rice-canola cropping rotation. The systems included D0.65L15, D0.65L30, and D0.9L30, consisting of two depths (D=0.65 and 0.9 m) and two spacing (L= 15 and 30 m) and a bi-level drainage system with alternate depths of 0.9 and 0.65 m with 15 m spacing (Bilevel). A paddy plot with conventional surface drainage and similar cropping system was considered as control (Control). Two water management strategies, including mid-season drainage (MSD) and alternate wetting and drying (AWD), were practiced during rice-growing period. Free drainage (FD) was adopted during canola-growing period. Required field data were collected during 2011–2016, including four rice-canola-growing cycles (two MSD-FD cycles and two AWD-FD cycles). Using the LCA concept, the effectiveness of different drainage systems were assessed under the cycles of MSD-FD and AWD-FD. The AWD-FD system showed 7% less environmental impacts than MSD-FD. Also, AWD-FD reduced human health, climate change, and resource depletion indicators by 7.7%, 9.9%, and 8.4%, respectively, compared with MSD-FD, which improved the ecosystem quality index by 7.2%. The Bilevel, D0.9L30, D0.65L30, and D0.65L15 drainage systems, respectively, reduced the environmental impacts by 11.8%, 11.1%, 2.6%, and 5.9% under AWD-FD and 25.4%, 17.6%, 25.1%, and 14.1% under MSD-FD compared with Control. On average, Bilevel reduced the environmental impacts by 18.6% compared with the conventional surface drainage system. Based on the results, the LCA concept can be used as a suitable tool to evaluate the performance of subsurface drainage systems before implementation on a large scale.

Enablers for facilitating life cycle assessment: key stakeholder perspectives of Sri Lankan construction industry

PurposeDespite the desire to improve the sustainability of the construction industry, Sri Lanka is still plagued by the low-level adoption of essential methods such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in building and infrastructure delivery. It is indispensable to investigate enablers for facilitating LCA because identification of enablers is a crucial step in the implementation of LCA. This study aims to analyze internal and external enablers for facilitating LCA for the Sri Lankan construction industry from the perspective of five stakeholder categories (academia, government, construction industry, society and environmentalists) and also aims to develop strategies to strengthen the enablers.Design/methodology/approachAn explanatory research design was used. The five stakeholder categories identified above, whose contribution is essential for implementing LCA in Sri Lanka, were selected for data collection. A total of 20 semi-structured interviews were held representing each stakeholder category. The Repertory Grid Interview (RGI) technique was utilized and data analysis was performed using content analysis.FindingsThe results revealed that “ability to identify opportunities for environmental improvements as an extremely important internal enabler for all stakeholder categories” and “the positive growth in the country to achieve environmental sustainability”, “the availability of standardized LCA guides and handbooks” as extremely important external enablers for all stakeholder categories for facilitating LCA in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Further, strategies including making people aware of the LCA concept and development of the LCA database, etc. were proposed to strengthen the enablers.Practical implicationsKnowledge generated through this study would enable the abovementioned stakeholders to make informed decisions to promote the implementation of LCA in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Further, the results of this study have raised awareness of the issues that Sri Lanka will need to solve to expand the LCA applications.Originality/valueSo far, research on LCA has not looked into enablers that can facilitate the implementation of LCA in the Sri Lankan construction industry. This research provides a comprehensive view of the internal and external enablers for facilitating LCA from the perspective of five stakeholder categories and identifies enablers that led the abovementioned stakeholders to pursue the implementation of LCA in the Sri Lankan construction industry. The study also proposes strategies for strengthening the enablers.

Carbon footprint, yield and economic performance assessment of different mulching strategies in a semi-arid spring maize system

Crop productivity maximization while minimizing carbon emissions is of critical importance for achieving sustainable agriculture. Socio-economic and ecological benefits should be taken together under the circumstance of stagnant farming profitability and climatic variability. The effectiveness of various mulching strategies in rain-fed semiarid areas has been confirmed, but scarce the comprehensive evaluations of the conventional and new mulching strategies in terms of yield, economic benefit, and carbon footprint based on life cycle assessment (LCA) have been conducted. Hence, a two-year field experiment was conducted on maize (Zea mays L.) crop to explore the effects of four mulching strategies (PM: plastic-film mulching, SM: maize straw mulching, BM: biodegradable-film mulching, and NM: no mulching) on the yield, net return, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and carbon footprint (CF). The results revealed that PM and BM significantly increased maize yield by 11.3–13.3% and 9.4–10.6%. PM marginally raised the net return by 2.0–2.4% whereas BM slightly reduced it by 4.6–8.8% relative to NM. Unexpectedly, the yield and net return were the lowest under SM, and intensified N2O emissions, GWPdirect, and yield-scaled GWPdirect were observed. When the GHGs using LCA concept and SOC sequestration rate were considered, the lowest net GWP (1804.1–1836.4 kg CO2-eq ha−1) and CF (148.9–119.9kg CO2-eq t−1) were observed in the SM treatment due to the boost of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. Conversely, PM and BM significantly increased the net GWP and CF compared to NM. When the tradeoffs between the high production, high net return and low net GWP were assessed by an integrated evaluation framework, the NM was recommended as an efficient low-carbon agricultural practice in the rain-fed semiarid areas.

Occupational exposure to hazards and volatile organic compounds in small-scale plastic recycling plants in Thailand by integrating risk and life cycle assessment concepts

Plastic waste recycling is gaining momentum as a means to promote a sustainable measure and circular economy. Most developing countries are facing significant challenges associated with recycling practices. In Thailand, 90% of the plastic recycling businesses are categorized as small-scale enterprises. There is still a dearth of research on health risk assessments associated with indoor exposure in small-scale waste recycling. This research aims to apply a holistic approach of integrated health risk and life cycle assessment concepts in investigating occupational exposure to all potential hazards in small-scale polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) recycling plants in Thailand. The results indicated that all exposure levels of heat stress in wet bulb globe temperature in the melting/extrusion stage exceeded the Thai and global Occupational safety and health (OSH) threshold limits for workers with heavy workloads. For workers’ exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), the average total VOCs concentrations emitted from PP and PE recycling were 1625 μg/m3 and 1190 μg/m3, respectively. Hexane and toluene were remarkably found in the extrusion process. The non-cancer hazard quotients (HQs) and hazard indices (HIs) were higher in PP than in PE. The adverse non-cancer risks were concerned in plants that recycle only PP wastes at full capacity (100%) loaded operation (HQs and HIs >1). Recycling facility concentrating more on PE recycling tends to reduce risk to workers. By integrating the revised one box model into the life cycle impact assessment, the results demonstrate that the health impact from indoor VOCs exposure due to the production of 1 kg of recycled PP or PE resin was significantly greatest. Workers in the extrusion process were considered at higher risk of exposure to VOCs and heat. This research makes important contributions to the literature by providing insights into environmental health management and implications for cleaner production in plastic waste recycling. The promotion of effective engineering controls and development of collaborative circular business models in plastic waste recycling sector were highly recommended to increase resource efficiency and promote sustainable production patterns.

Application of Plastic Wastes in Construction Materials: A Review Using the Concept of Life-Cycle Assessment in the Context of Recent Research for Future Perspectives.

The urbanization process contributes to the growth of solid waste generation and causes an increase in environmental impacts and failures in the management of solid waste. The number of dumps is a concern due to the limited implementation and safe disposal of this waste. The interest in sustainable techniques has been growing in relation to waste management, which is largely absorbed by the civil construction sector. This work aimed to review plastic waste, especially polyethylene terephthalate (PET), that can be incorporated with construction materials, such as concrete, mortars, asphalt mixtures, and paving. The use of life-cycle assessment (LCA) is related, as a tool that allows the sustainability of products and processes to be enhanced in the long term. After analyzing the recent literature, it was identified that studies related to plastic wastes in construction materials concentrate sustainability around the alternative destination of waste. Since the plastic waste from different production chains are obtained, it was possible to affirm the need for a broader assessment, such as the LCA, providing greater quantification of data making the alternative processes and products more sustainable. The study contributes to enhance sustainability in alternative building materials through LCA.

The Significance of Scope 3 GHG Emissions in Construction Projects in Korea: Using EIA and LCA

In Korea, a greenhouse gas (GHG) environmental impact assessment (EIA) has been conducting since 2012, which sets the evaluation procedures and methods for GHG items during the EIA. However, the current EIA on GHG emissions can support wrong decision-making because the evaluation does not consider Scope 3 GHG emissions. Accordingly, this study proposed the life cycle EIA (LCEIA) method to identify changes in GHG emissions that need to be managed by considering Scope 3 GHG emissions in construction projects. The LCEIA method incorporates life cycle CO2 (LCCO2) including Scope 1, Scope, and Scope 3 GHG emissions using the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) into the scoping step of the EIA process. The case study was conducted using existing EIA on GHG emission and LCEIA methodology for a development project in Gwangyang City. Scenario 1 is defined as an approach that calculates GHG emissions using the existing EIA method, and scenario 2 is also defined as a process using the LCEIA method. Results reveal that Scenario 2, including Scope 3 GHG emissions, had 46.4−51.2% more GHG emissions than Scenario 1. Sensitivity analysis for electricity and liquefied natural gas (LNG) density was also performed. Although the change in the carbon emission factor of electricity had a slightly sensitive effect on the research results, the LNG density was found to be less sensitive. This study believes the importance of switching to an EIA reflecting life cycle carbon dioxide (LCCO2) to calculate the exact amount of GHG emissions for construction work.

The case for estimating carbon return on investment (CROI) for CCUS platforms

Development of CO2 capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) platforms has been deemed crucial for achievement of the Paris Agreement goals. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool for assessing the efficacy of these technologies in achieving true net-carbon reduction. Critical review of previously published LCA-based evaluations of CCUS technologies reveals that there is an urgent need for more transparent accounting of carbon removal efficiency. Updated methods should incorporate better focus on the CO2 uptake as the primary objective and better differentiate apportionment between “avoided emissions” and true net sequestration. We posit that widespread, uniform application of a standardized ratio metric, carbon return on investment (CROI), will improve the usefulness of LCA to articulate true CO2 sequestration by candidate CCUS platforms. We present two case studies to illustrate the value of this metric for diverse CCS and CCU applications. We also provide several recommendations to make future CROI results as unambiguous as possible and boost their usefulness. These recommendations pertain to conventional LCA concepts, including: choice of functional unit (or declared unit) and system boundaries, application of system expansion, and proper mathematical formulation of the proposed metric. Future work should aim at carrying forward our work on proposed minimum CROI and incorporating the time-value of CO2 fluxes.

Functional Unit for Impact Assessment in the Mining Sector—Part 1

More and more efforts are directed towards the standardization of the methods of determining the functional unit (FU) in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). These efforts concern the development of theories and detailed methodological guides, but also the evaluation of the quality of the FU obtained. The objective of this article is to review this work in order to propose, using a multiscale approach, a method for defining the FU in the mining sector, which takes into account all the dimensions of the system under study. In this first part, the emphasis is on identifying the shortcomings of the FU. The absence of a precise normative framework specific to each sector of activity, as well as the complex, multifunctional and hard-to-scale nature of the systems concerned, are at the origin of the flexibility in the selection of the FU. This lack of a framework, beyond generating a heterogeneous definition of the FU for the same system, most often leads to an incomplete formulation of this sensitive concept of LCA. It has been found that key parameters such as the end-use of a product or process, as well as the interests of stakeholders, are hardly taken into account in the specification of the FU.

Comparison of GHG emissions and farmers’ profit of large-scale and individual farming in rice production across four regions of Thailand

A large-scale agricultural extension program in Thailand is established under the economy of scale concept. In this study, we used the life cycle assessment concept for greenhouse gas emissions (LCA-GHG) to evaluate and compare GHG emissions from individually farmed units and large-scale farming operations. Results showed that large-scale farming resulted in GHG emissions 11% lower than those arising from individual farming. Moreover, reducing rice seed and transportation used were outstanding under large-scale farming. Production cost was reduced by 28.3%, whereas farmer’s profit was increased by 31.2%. Producing rice seed, open windrows compost, manures, and bio-fermented juice for using inside the farm gate had potential to mitigate GHG emissions by 40.7 (−85.9%), 732.3 (−12.3%), 188.8 (−46.8%), and 115.6 (−75.4%) kg CO2eq ha−1 year−1, respectively. Our findings proved that minimal use of external inputs by producing raw materials from co-product and recirculating in the paddy field can reduce GHG emissions and enhance farmers’ profits, especially in large-scale farming. Based on these findings, we propose that merging individual farm units into large-scaled units should be encouraged.

EFFECTIVENESS OF BOARD GAME AND INFOGRAPHICS ON DELIVERING LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA) CONCEPTS AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Environmental education is important as environmental issues addressed are caused by lack of attitude, awareness and knowledge on environment. It teaches people to explore all the problems related to the environment and engage in wise ways to preserve it. The environmental knowledge needs to be disseminated among society members and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) concept is one of the core elements. LCA helps people to understand the potential environmental impact of product consumption in daily activities. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of using board game and infographic in delivering the LCA concept among lower secondary students. The students are required to take several quizzes to evaluate their understanding on LCA based on the treatment given. This study is conducted using the Solomon four-group design to achieve the research objectives; (1) identifying significant difference between pre and post-test of the two methods, and (2) identifying significant difference between the two methods itself in helping the students to learn LCA. The statistical analysis reported that there is a significant difference in levels of LCA knowledge among students before and after they were exposed to LCA (t= 3.806, df= 39, p < .05). However, there were no significant differences on levels of LCA knowledge between the board game and infographic method (t= 1.593, df= 38, p > .05). The structure of the board game and infographic provides necessary component to develop the foundation of LCA knowledge for students while they enjoy the game

Role of lightweight materials of construction on carbon dioxide emission of a reinforced concrete building

Environmental concerns are a big threat to most of the countries in the world, especially with the growing size of infrastructure. The present study is an attempt to assess the ecological imbalance, environmental impacts to address the major environment concerns in the construction of residential buildings using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool. SimaPro 8.4, was used to assess and verify the overall performance of the project. The CO2 emission due to the manufacturing of building materials was 18,629 tons which contributed to 90% of the total indirect emissions and the machinery used during construction considered as direct emission was 3485.01 tons. Comparing to alternate databases, the percentage difference in the value of CO2 emissions when an alternate database was used, was found to be 27%. For masonry, the conventional brick masonry ranked highest in terms of CO2 emissions while sand lime masonry which is lightweight in nature as lowest. The case study of a building constructed with reinforced cement concrete as structural elements was chosen to apply the concepts of LCA and to compare the results with alternative materials.