Life-Cycle Assessment of Concrete Dam Construction: Comparison of Environmental Impact of Rock-Filled and Conventional Concrete

AbstractMassive concrete dam projects will be constructed in the next 10 years to respond to the increasing demand for clean energy and water resources in developing countries. Because of their ample use of cement, these projects have a significant environmental impact, including the production of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Rock-filled concrete (RFC) is an innovative dam construction method that promises better environmental performance than conventional concrete (CC) in the material production stage by saving a large amount of cement. However, the environmental loads throughout the entire life cycle of a dam must be quantified. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the environmental loads in the lifetime of a dam and reveal the environmental impact of RFC relative to CC over the entire life cycle of a concrete dam. Through reviewing the limitations of the existing life-cycle assessment (LCA) models, a hybrid LCA model is applied to achieve this goal. The results from a case study of a concrete dam proje...

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