International Industrial Ecology Day 2021

Assessment of the Embodied Environmental Impact of a Reinforced Cement Concrete Building

Abstract

The material production and construction of a building have shown considerable impacts to the environment. This study assessed the environmental impact from raw material acquisition to building construction and delivery of a university office building using life cycle assessment with CML2001 methodology. The building is a reinforced cement concrete building with a wooden roof frame. The results showed that the environmental impacts are dominated by the mining and manufacturing stage because of the high utilization of fossil fuel and other resources in its associated processes. Furthermore, reinforcement steel was found to be the highest contributor to the 10 out of 11 environmental impacts considered because of its energy-intensive processes during the material mining and manufacturing stage. Sensitivity analyses were also conducted in the study in an attempt to decrease the embodied emissions. It was found out that using Roman clay tile roofing instead of corrugated galvanized iron (GI) sheets and utilizing wood for roof trusses and purlins instead of steel would result to significant environmental savings. Meanwhile, varying the CHB wall openings did not produce any significant change in the results.

Author(s)

Name Affiliation
Resmond Reaño University of the Philippines Los Baños
Claire Anne P. Gonzales University of the Philippines Los Baños
Maricel A. Eneria University of the Philippines Los Baños
Ma. Hazel T. Castillo University of the Philippines Los Baños
Richard Dean F. Morales University of the Philippines Los Baños
Richelle G. Zafra University of the Philippines Los Baños
Anthony O. Halog University of Queensland Australia

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