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Sustainable Construction A Life Cycle Approach in Engineering

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However, the considered column resistance, 380 kN, is rather low for the design of effective<br />

concrete alternative. The expected load-bear<strong>in</strong>g capacity <strong>in</strong> the case of HPC and UHPC is significantly<br />

higher than <strong>in</strong> preset requirements def<strong>in</strong>ed for this study. The evident advantages of<br />

the use of high performance concrete would be more significant <strong>in</strong> the case of higher loads.<br />

6 CONCLUDING REMARKS<br />

First outcomes of a LCA for fibre re<strong>in</strong>forced wood profiles have been presented. They are<br />

mostly based on sophisticated data from the well-known eco<strong>in</strong>vent database. With the results<br />

from life cycle impact analysis environmentally sound process eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g can be developed.<br />

Two impact assessment methods have been applied whereas CML method seems to be more<br />

applicable for comparisons between products. For the steel and concrete alternatives published<br />

references were used.<br />

The prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study of the simple column design consider<strong>in</strong>g alternative solutions,<br />

three ma<strong>in</strong> build<strong>in</strong>g materials, consider<strong>in</strong>g environmental impact of the structural element<br />

illustrates importance and problems associated with this approach. The ma<strong>in</strong> conclusions<br />

are:<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

More efforts should be put <strong>in</strong> the synchronization of the system boundaries for<br />

all alternative solutions.<br />

With the exist<strong>in</strong>g knowledge and tools available it is possible to def<strong>in</strong>e the<br />

best environmental and economical solution for a very specific build<strong>in</strong>g site<br />

conditions. However, these two separate criteria may be satisfied by different<br />

material solutions.<br />

It is important that design for the life time become the accepted approach despite<br />

of problems that are rather obvious. This will improve environmental<br />

awareness and certa<strong>in</strong>ly open new possibilities for <strong>in</strong>novative solutions <strong>in</strong><br />

construction sector, <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>g variety of material choices and structural solutions.<br />

Comparable results of the analysis of three build<strong>in</strong>g materials are show <strong>in</strong> Table 10.<br />

Table 10. Comparison of basic categories of the environmental impact for alternative build<strong>in</strong>g materials<br />

Build<strong>in</strong>g material<br />

Performance<br />

Unit<br />

Timber<br />

(fibre re<strong>in</strong>forced)<br />

Steel RC hollow core<br />

weight kg 28.2 29.75 154.5<br />

energy MJ 140.7 723 328.8<br />

climate change kg CO 2 equiv. 0.40 32.2 32.5<br />

acidification kg SO 2 equiv. 0.19 0.12 0.13<br />

56

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