Life Cycle Assessment of Ready-Mixed Concrete

Approximately 416.9 million m3 of concrete were used in China in buildings, roads and other constructions in 2009. This makes concrete one of the most common building materials on the market. While consuming large amounts of energy, concrete industry has also cause large burden on the environment due to the environmental emissions by the production of cement and the transport of materials. Therefore, more detailed quantitative studies are necessary to finally acknowledge its effects of energy and environment. The objective of this paper is to identify and quantify the energy consumption, and environmental emissions during all life-cycle phases of concrete in China by LCA.