Analysis of Major Environmental Impact Categories of Road Construction Materials

Won-Jun Park, Rakhyun Kim, Seungjun Roh and Hoki Ban
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Won-Jun Park: Department of Architectural Engineering, Kangwon National University, Samcheok 25913, Korea
Rakhyun Kim: GREENers, Ansan 15455, Korea
Seungjun Roh: School of Architecture, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi 39177, Korea
Hoki Ban: Department of Civil Engineering, Kangwon National University, Samcheok 25913, Korea

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-18

Abstract: To address the environmental problems associated with construction materials, the construction industry has made considerable efforts to reduce carbon emissions. However, construction materials cause several other environmental problems in addition to carbon emissions and thus, a comprehensive analysis of environmental impact categories is required. This study aims to determine the major environmental impact categories for each construction material in production stage using the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique on road projects. Through the review of life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodologies, the abiotic depletion potential (ADP), ozone depletion potential, photochemical oxidant creation potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, eco-toxicity potential, human toxicity potential, as well as the global warming potential (GWP) were defined as impact categories. To define the impact categories for road construction materials, major environmental pollutants were analyzed for a number of road projects, and impact categories for 13 major construction materials were selected as mandatory impact categories. These materials contributed more than 80% to the impact categories from an LCA perspective. The impact categories to which each material contributed more than 99% were proposed as specialization impact categories to provide basic data for use in the LCIA of future road projects.

Keywords: construction materials; major environmental impact categories; life cycle assessment; road project (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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