Greenhouse gas strategies for cement containing products

Abstract

The climate change issue is today one of the most important questions from a society perspective as well as from a company perspective. The construction of the society's infrastructure constitutes a very important and necessary part of the modern society. Concrete is one of the most important construction materials in a modern society today and thus a vital part for the future development. For that reason, it is important to carefully investigate the present situation as well as consequences and strategies for today and for the coming future concerning the greenhouse gas situation. To be able to analyze complex technical systems with many interactions, a powerful and well establish methodology is required. Therefore, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology has been used for the analyses and LCA computer models have been developed for the system calculations. This study is primarily a study of greenhouse gases and its origin in the energy production and the production processes. The LCA models have been used to calculate the primary energy use and the emissions of greenhouse gases. Also the uptake (carbonation) of CO2 in the concrete has been included. Different concrete products and their energy and greenhouse gas behavior have been studied as well as different strategies to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. For many concrete products, a large CO2 uptake potential exists, especially in the end of life/secondary product phase that has not been considered in the evaluation of concrete as a construction material in the society.This report is only available in English