| 70431 |
abstract |
Cement is responsible for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is predicted
to grow with increasing development. The majority is used in concrete, globally the
most common material in buildings. Reducing emissions from the use of cement and concrete
in buildings is therefore critical in order to limit global warming. However, there
remain multiple gaps in knowledge about the extent of these emissions. This paper
is the first output of a project that aims to understand better the embodied impacts
from the use of concrete in buildings, in order to inform and advise policy-makers
and industry practitioners, and to provide clear evidence for the path forwards. In
order to do so, the project collates, analyses and critiques evidence from multiple
sources, reported over three papers. This first paper focuses on the basic data on
materials impacts. Over the last few years, several hundred individual Environmental
Product Declarations (EPDs) have been published for cements, aggregates and concrete
mixes, but no publication offers a comparison or overview. Therefore, understanding
the range and opportunities for the reduction of impacts from concrete remains very
limited. This first paper provides the first detailed analysis of the EPD for concrete
and its constituents. <br></br><br></br>
Practice relevance
The graphs developed in this paper can be used by designers and manufacturers to understand
and reduce the impacts from cement and concrete. Designers will have a better idea
of an appropriate coefficient to use at the early design stage before more details
are known. As the design progresses, they will be able to use the graphs presented
to choose a lower impact cement or concrete with the same performance, as well as
to check the likely validity of any EPD. The graphs also provide an incentive to manufacturers
to reduce impacts, since they will now be able to compare their products with others.
Finally, for those involved in producing EPDs, the paper demonstrates the necessity
of more detailed rules for consistency, and in the meantime the necessity of full
transparency in EPD reports. |