scholarly journals Refocusing Sustainability Education: Using Students’ Reflections on Their Carbon Footprint to Reinforce the Importance of Considering CO2 Production in the Construction Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Weirs ◽  
Allan Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Co2 Production

scholarly journals There is a silver lining: carbon footprint reduction by holding Preventive Cardiology conference 2020 virtually

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Batool ◽  
A Neven ◽  
Y Vanrompay ◽  
M Adnan ◽  
P Dendale
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Air Travel ◽  
Co2 Production ◽  
Scientific Conference ◽  
Preventive Cardiology ◽  
Transport Modes

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Other. Main funding source(s): Special Research Fund (BOF), Hasselt University Introduction The transportation sector is one of the major sectors influencing climate change, contributing around 16% of total Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. Aviation contributes to 12% of the transport related emissions. Among other climate change impacts, elevated heat exposure is associated with increased cardiac events and exposure to air pollution caused by GHG emissions has also well-known association with increased cardiovascular related morbidity and mortality. The global temperature rise should be restricted to less than 2 °C which requires keeping carbon emission (CO2) less than 2900 billion tonnes by the end of the 21st century. Assuming air travel a major contributing source to GHG, this study aims to raise the awareness about potential carbon emissions reduction due to air travel of international events like a scientific conference. Purpose Due to the global pandemic of COVID-19, the Preventive cardiology conference 2020 which was planned to be held at Malaga Spain, instead was held in virtual online way. This study aims to calculate the contribution of reduced CO2  emissions in tons due to ESC preventive cardiology conference 2020, which was then held online and air travel of the registered participants was avoided. Methods Anonymized participant registration information was used to determine the country and city of the 949 registered participants of the Preventive Cardiology conference 2020. It is assumed that participants would have travelled from the closest airports from their reported city locations to Malaga airport, Spain. At first, the closest city airports were determined using Google maps and flights information, then the flight emissions (direct and indirect CO2-equivalent emissions) per passenger for the given flight distances were calculated. The CO2 emissions (tons) were calculated for round trips in economy class from the participants of 68 nationalities (excluding 60 participants from Spain as they are assumed to take other modes of transport than airplane). Results In total, 1156.51 tons of CO2  emissions were saved by turning the physical conference into a virtual event. This emission amount is equivalent to the annual CO2 production of 108 people living in high-income countries. Conclusion The pandemic situation has forced us to rethink the necessity of trips by air and has shown us the feasibility of digitally organized events. The information from this study can add to the awareness about reduced amount of carbon emission due to air travel by organizing events in a virtual way when possible. Apart from only digitally organized events there are others options to reduce the carbon footprint of conferences such as limiting the number of physical attendees, encouraging the use of relatively sustainable transport modes for participants from nearby countries (e.g. international trains and use of active transport modes at conference venue etc.) and including CO2 emission offsetting costs.

scholarly journals Methodology to Evaluate the Embodied Primary Energy and CO2 Production at Each Stage of the Life Cycle of Prefabricated Structural Systems: The Case of the Solar Decathlon Competition

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4311
Author(s):  
J.F. Luna-Tintos ◽  
Carlos Cobreros ◽  
Álvaro López-Escamilla ◽  
Rafael Herrera-Limones ◽  
Miguel Torres-García
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Co2 Production ◽  
Structural Systems ◽  
Structural System ◽  
Audit Tool ◽  
Solar Decathlon ◽  
Environmental Demand ◽  
Emission Of Greenhouse Gases

The construction industry is responsible for a high percentage of the energy consumed on the planet and the emission of greenhouse gases, therefore it is considered necessary to rethink many of the processes that this industry carries out in order to reduce its environmental impact. For this, one of the paths could take into account the Life Cycle Assessment of the used materials, for which it is necessary to evaluate this aspect through indicators that allow the qualification and quantification of the weight of these environmental impacts. In this context, this article presents a methodological proposal for the quantitative evaluation of the embodied primary energy and CO2 production at each stage of the life cycle of prefabricated structural systems, taking as case studies eight prototypes from the “Solar Decathlon” competition in its editions of Europe (2014), United States (2015) and Latin America (2015), through a Simplified Life Cycle Analysis, using the Eco Audit tool from CES Edupack. Through this analysis, conclusions are drawn about the optimization of a structural system with lower environmental demand and the possibilities of transferring knowledge from this competition to be applied in innovative systems of new housing models.

Carbon Footprint Analysis of Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Incorporated Pedestrian Bridges: A Case Study

2012 ◽  
Vol 517 ◽  
pp. 724-729
Author(s):  
Jian Guo Dai ◽  
Tamon Ueda
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Prestressed Concrete ◽  
Environmental Friendliness ◽  
Pedestrian Bridge ◽  
Reinforced Polymer ◽  
Pedestrian Bridges ◽  
Fibre Reinforced Polymer ◽  
Footprint Analysis

This paper presents a case study on the carbon footprint of a fibre reinforced polymer (FRP)-incorporated pedestrian bridge in comparison with a conventional prestressed concrete (PC) one. The CO2 emission is used as an index and calculated for both the material manufacturing and the construction processes. It is shown that using an FRP-incorporated pedestrian bridge to replace a conventional prestressed concrete (PC) bridge may reduce the CO2 emission by 18% and 70%, respectively, during the material manufacturing and construction periods, leading to a total reduction by about 26%. Such reduction is expected to be more significant if the life-cycle CO2 emission is accounted for, since the former type of bridge is free of corrosion and almost maintenance-free. Therefore, FRP-incorporated bridges may become a more competitive alternative to conventional reinforced concrete (RC) or PC ones with the increasing attention paid on the sustainability and environmental friendliness of construction industry by our society.

scholarly journals The carbon footprint of construction industry: A review of direct and indirect emission

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-115
Author(s):  
Yahaya Hassan LABARAN ◽  
Vivek Shankar MATHUR ◽  
Mahmoud Murtala FAROUQ
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Indirect Emission

Way Forward for Construction Industry with Active Participation in Carbon Footprint Reduction for Sustainable Development using Geosynthetics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saravanan Mariappan ◽  
Fauziah Hanis Hood
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
World Wide ◽  
Future Generation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Carbon Footprints ◽  
Sea Levels ◽  
Alternative Materials ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Construction Works

<p>Building green and sustainable for buildings and cities have become an important aspect to safe guard the environment and future generation. Opening up new land for townships with road and railway networks are vital for the nation along with government commitment for development and well being of ever growing population. In the past, mother nature’s well balanced ecosystem were compromised due to rapid industrialization and world wide development. Today, we are facing serious environmental deterioration with rising global temperature, sea levels, lost of rain forest, natural resources, extinction of species all at unprecedented levels, never seen before world wide. As we are heading towards uncharted environmental impact with mega scale of flooding, rainfall, typhoon wind velocity, prolong drought, early seasonal changes, it has become an immediate need for every citizen of the planet to safe guard the environment by reducing their carbon footprint. As the first step for carbon foot print reduction, we need to reduce carbon consumption in every aspect of our daily life starting with the building that houses us, cities that we works and live in and reduction in construction industries especially areas related to infrastructure and highway construction works. This paper will discuss the usage of alternative materials in construction industry, which can reduce carbon footprints and at the same time blend with the nature. New changes with adoption of technologies can be in cooperated as Green Highway and Infrastructure Index (GHII).</p>

Carbon Dioxide Sequestered Concrete

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Liyana Mohd Kamal ◽  
◽  
Zarina Itam ◽  
Yuovendra Sivaganese ◽  
Norizham Abdul Razak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Greenhouse Gasses ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Gas ◽  
Compressive Strength Of Concrete ◽  
Mineral Trapping ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
The Impact

Carbon dioxide, CO2 accounts for most of the emission from all the types of greenhouse gasses in the world. The ability of CO2 to remain longer than other greenhouse gases and the convenience of producing CO2 has resulted in its high projection in a yearly manner. The prime factor for the emission of CO2 are from the actions of human beings. One such human act is the concrete industry. Total emissions from the concrete industry could therefore contribute as much as 8% of global CO2 emissions. Sequestered CO2 in concrete can provide an impact on reducing the carbon footprint and is also able to improve the compressive strength of concrete. During this process, the sequestered carbon dioxide chemically reacts with cement to produce a mineral, trapping carbon dioxide gas in the concrete. Hence, sequestering carbon dioxide gas in concrete does not only on a bigger scale reduces carbon footprint, but it also reduces the impact the construction industry has on the environment. This paper presents a detailed review on the chemical reaction that takes place during the sequestration of carbon dioxide and the research published on the effects of carbon dioxide sequestered concrete on its properties. The impact this process has on the concrete industry and the environment is discussed in this paper.

scholarly journals Carbon footprint of a multi-storied residential building during the construction process

2021 ◽  
Vol 1197 (1) ◽  
pp. 012022
Author(s):  
M P Bhorkar ◽  
P Choudhary ◽  
A Chawhan ◽  
A Bijwe ◽  
K Devgade
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Construction Companies ◽  
Electricity Use ◽  
Construction Activity

Abstract Construction Industry indicates development of the country and it helps in the economic growth which adds productivity and quality of life of citizens. During the manufacturing and the construction processes, there is use and combustion of fossil fuels which results total 39% of total carbon footprint. So, studying carbon footprint for construction companies becomes very important. Many different studies are carried out with giving number of alternatives to reduce the amount of carbon footprint. However, this research is focused mainly on multi-storeyed residential building in renowned city in India, shows the carbon emissions produced by a construction activity right from the material production to the actual execution process. Different Greenhouse gases contributing carbon footprint were also studied & incorporated. Various activities accounting to emissions were listed and their carbon footprint value (in the form of Carbon Dioxide equivalent) was calculated by bottom-up method. The manufacturing of various construction materials and usage of electricity during execution phases of a building causes very bad impact on the environment. The greatest contributors of the carbon footprint are onsite electricity use and building materials manufacturing. Therefore, use of green concrete, renewable energy, prefabricated construction materials and low emission construction equipment & vehicles can help in reducing the values of Carbon Footprint by the construction industry.

scholarly journals CARBON FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS OF CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES IN SRI LANKA: AN INPUT-OUTPUT TABLE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Gunathilake ◽  
◽  
T. Ramachandra ◽  
U.G.D. Madushika ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Construction Materials ◽  
Total Carbon ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Bottom Up

The construction industry is one of the major contributors that emits carbon into the environment. When considering the carbon emission in the local context, even though there are Input-Output Tables (IOTs) that applies to all types of industries in Sri Lanka, there seems to be limited focuses on IOTs specifically relating to the construction activities which is vital for the need due to its outstanding contribution to the carbon footprint of Sri Lanka. Hence, this study aims to calculate the carbon footprint construction activities in Sri Lanka using IOT with a bottom-up approach. The required data were extracted from published documents of Survey of Construction Industry by Census and Statistics, and The Inventory of Carbon and Energy (ICE) database of UK. Carbon footprint of construction activities were calculated using IOT with a bottom-up approach. The analysis revealed that the road and railway sector have the highest contribution of 48% to the monetary value of the construction industry meanwhile it accounts for 44% of the highest carbon emission to the atmosphere in the year 2020. Subsequently, activities related to non-residential residential, and utilities contribute to 20%, 15%, and 12% of total carbon emission respectively. In terms of construction materials, cement-based activities (59%) were the highest contributor while rubble and metal-based (23%), and iron and steel-based activities (17%) were next level contributors to the carbon emission due to construction. The analysis concluded that the as the initiatives, public sector projects including road and railway sector and utilities should integrate more sustainable construction practices as they are responsible for more than 50% of carbon emission.

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