ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF CEMENT BASED PRODUCTS: LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT AND THE ECOCONCRETE SOFTWARE TOOL

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an essential tool for the quantitative evaluation of the impact of a product on the environment. Since this impact can occur in any stage of its life cycle (from the mining of raw materials to ultimate disposal), its whole life has to be considered. The basic features of LCA are an inventory (LCI) of environmental interventions (inputs and outputs of energy and materials used, emissions produced, etc.) and the assessment of their effect (LCIA) in terms of different potential environmental impacts (greenhouse effect, ozone layer, acidification or depletion of raw materials and energy, among others). LCA can be used for a number of purposes, including the environmental improvement of processes and materials, the comparison of products, or for eco-labelling. For conducting LCA studies, specific software must be used; a recently-developed program is the EcoConcrete software, compiled by the European concrete-related industries. In this paper, the main aspects of the application of LCA to concrete products are presented, including a brief description of the methodology used, some examples of application and the EcoConcrete software.

• INTRODUCTION

• LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS

• EXAMPLES OF APPLICATION OF LCA ON CONCRETE PRODUCTS

• THE ECOCONCRETE SOFTWARE TOOL

• FINAL REMARKS

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• REFERENCES