Samenvatting Construction Materials & Sustainability
1. Sustainability assessment
- 3 sustainability pillars
o Environment
o Social
o Economic
Principles & theoretical background
- Population:
o Total world population stijgt
o Urban world population stijgt
o Rural world population daalt
-> Density in cities gets higher
- Important urban development = the use of reinforced concrete structures worldwide
o 2 sorts of waste
• Construction waste
• Demolition waste
o In Colombia illegal extraction of raw materials for concrete
o Recycling of CDW encouraged by a mandatory target: 70% by 2020.
- Environmental impact
o Green house gases emission
o Coral reefs affected by acidification
o Floods caused by unexpected precipitations
o Animal dead caused by drought
-> 37% emissions building industry incl. cement 8-9%
- Cement production
o China en India until 2024 higher , later lower
o Remaining global south keeps getting higher
Environment Society Economy
Land use No security Prices reduced
Fresh water used Child labor Development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising
the ability of future
generations to meet their
own needs
- Key elements beyond the UN’s concept on sustainability
o An attribute or characteristics of a process or a state of a system
o A potential capacity of a system to maintain its process and state at a certain
level indefinitely
o A balance between demand and supply, consistently maintained amid
systems that are interconnected and interacted as well
- Earth’s system into 5 spheres
o Focus on link between biosphere and atmosphere = ‘carbon footprint’
, Environment Society Economy
E-LCA S-LCA LCC
Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Cost
- Def. Sustainable Construction Process = A holistic process aiming to restore and
maintain harmony between the natural and built environments, and create
settlements that affirm human dignity and encourage economic equity.
o New constraints to the building design: not only functionality, durability,
flexibility and renewability, but also recyclability
o Indicators in buildings: Energy (to produce mat. + installation), Materials (use
less), Water (used in production), Land (use less)
- Def. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) = a methodology to evaluate performance of any
level of systems over its service life.
o Also ‘cradle-to-grave’/ ‘cradle-to-cradle cycle approach’ = considers recycle
of building materials or products.
o The life cycle assessment (LCA) requires quantifying the consumption of
resources (e.g. energy, water and materials) and the environmental
emissions to air, water and soil associated with the system being evaluated
, o According to ISO 14040-14043 standards, LCA consists of four stages:
definition of the objective and scope
creation of the inventory
impact assessment
interpretation of the results
- Recycling = good option but better not demolish -> adapt/ reuse = better
1. Sustainability assessment
- 3 sustainability pillars
o Environment
o Social
o Economic
Principles & theoretical background
- Population:
o Total world population stijgt
o Urban world population stijgt
o Rural world population daalt
-> Density in cities gets higher
- Important urban development = the use of reinforced concrete structures worldwide
o 2 sorts of waste
• Construction waste
• Demolition waste
o In Colombia illegal extraction of raw materials for concrete
o Recycling of CDW encouraged by a mandatory target: 70% by 2020.
- Environmental impact
o Green house gases emission
o Coral reefs affected by acidification
o Floods caused by unexpected precipitations
o Animal dead caused by drought
-> 37% emissions building industry incl. cement 8-9%
- Cement production
o China en India until 2024 higher , later lower
o Remaining global south keeps getting higher
Environment Society Economy
Land use No security Prices reduced
Fresh water used Child labor Development that meets
the needs of the present
without compromising
the ability of future
generations to meet their
own needs
- Key elements beyond the UN’s concept on sustainability
o An attribute or characteristics of a process or a state of a system
o A potential capacity of a system to maintain its process and state at a certain
level indefinitely
o A balance between demand and supply, consistently maintained amid
systems that are interconnected and interacted as well
- Earth’s system into 5 spheres
o Focus on link between biosphere and atmosphere = ‘carbon footprint’
, Environment Society Economy
E-LCA S-LCA LCC
Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Assessment Life Cycle Cost
- Def. Sustainable Construction Process = A holistic process aiming to restore and
maintain harmony between the natural and built environments, and create
settlements that affirm human dignity and encourage economic equity.
o New constraints to the building design: not only functionality, durability,
flexibility and renewability, but also recyclability
o Indicators in buildings: Energy (to produce mat. + installation), Materials (use
less), Water (used in production), Land (use less)
- Def. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) = a methodology to evaluate performance of any
level of systems over its service life.
o Also ‘cradle-to-grave’/ ‘cradle-to-cradle cycle approach’ = considers recycle
of building materials or products.
o The life cycle assessment (LCA) requires quantifying the consumption of
resources (e.g. energy, water and materials) and the environmental
emissions to air, water and soil associated with the system being evaluated
, o According to ISO 14040-14043 standards, LCA consists of four stages:
definition of the objective and scope
creation of the inventory
impact assessment
interpretation of the results
- Recycling = good option but better not demolish -> adapt/ reuse = better
