Environmental burdens of concrete and concrete products

According to the definition given by the Finnish Committee for Sustainable Development, the ecological criteria for sustainable development are the preservation of biodiversity and adoption of human activities to the natural resources and tolerance of nature. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) process is used to assess the environmental effects over the entire life of the product or activity. In the methodology of LCA the environmental assessment is normally based on the account of environmental burdens that can be quantitatively dealt with, which includes harmful emissions into air, water and soil and consumption of resources (energy, water, materials and land).The potential harmful changes in the environment created by these burdens are dealt with, such as the potential global warming induced by carbon dioxide or potential acidification induced by oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. Environmental impact of building products consists of procurement of raw material, manufacture items (raw materials and product) and also the use of energy resources during transportation – all of which burden the environment. Environmental burdens of concrete and concrete products consist of limestone quarrying, burning and grinding of clinker, extraction, excavation and crushing of cement stone materials, manufacturing and transportation of raw materials and the final product. The environmental burdens of concrete, hollow-core slabs, roofing tiles, exterior wall panels, concrete beams and columns are dealt with in the assessment. The differences in environmental burdens between various concrete products are a consequence of different binder contents and types, long transportation distances of raw materials and products and different electricity consumption especially in the production phases. The goal of this paper is to identify the environmental burdens of concrete and its products which in-turn can lead to determining options for improving environmental effects.