Sustainable Construction Materials

VDB 4333

Chapter-3 (Part-1)
Evaluating the Environmental
and Human Health Impacts
of Materials
By: Nasir Shafiq (Professor)
Learning Objectives of this chapter

Materials evaluation and selection may be one of the most confusing and

controversial areas of sustainable site design, with multiple variables and

many right and wrong answers.

Learning objectives of the chapter are to:

 Assess the environmental and human health impacts associated with

building material/product and methods to minimize with careful attention

to environmental and human health costs throughout their life cycle.

 The chapter will discuss techniques of evaluating materials, such as lifecycle

assessment (LCA), sustainability assessment (SA), and embodied energy (EE)

analysis.
 Introduction to environmental impact
assessment

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) can be defined as the systematic

identification and evaluation of the potential impacts (effects) of proposed

projects, plans, program or legislative action of the physical, chemical,

biological, cultural, and socioeconomic components of the total

environment.
The primary purpose of the EIA process is to encourage the consideration of the

environment in planning and decision making so as to ultimately arrive at actions

which are environment friendly.

 EIA is a planning tool which helps planners in predicting future impacts of different

development activities.
 EIA provides information about adverse environment effects, predicts, the overall risks

arising from any activity, helps in identifying areas where risks can possibly be reduced.
 Introduction to environmental impact
assessment
Potential Impacts on Environment

A change in system exerts certain influence on many

different environmental parameters resulting a net

positive or negative impact on the environment.

Environmental Parameters are:

 Ecological Impacts

 Physico-chemical Impacts

 Impact on Human Interest

 Ecology

Aquatic Terrestrial
– Fisheries  Forest
 Wildlife
– Eutrophication  Species diversity
– Aquatic Weeds  Endangered species

– Species diversity
– Endangered species
 Physico-chemical

Land
Groundwater
– Erosion and Siltation  Regional Hydrology

– Backwater Effect  Recharge

 Water table
– Bank stability  Water Pollution

– Drainage Atmosphere
 Air pollution
– Soil characteristics  Dust Pollution
 Noise Pollution
Surface water
Human Interest

Health Socio-Economic
– Diseases  Land Loss
 Crop Production
– Sanitation
 Aquaculture
– Nutrients  Irrigation
 Navigation
Aesthetic
 Flood Control
– Landscape  Transport

– Recreation  Re-settlement
 Employment
 Agro-industrial
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Essential Elements
1. Identification of possible positive or negative
impacts of the project.
2. Quantifying impacts with respect to common base.

3. Preparation of mitigation plan to offset the negative

impacts.
Goals of EIA

The major aims of EIA are:

– Resources Conservation
– Waste minimization

– Recovery of by-product.
– Efficient use of equipment
– Sustainable Development
Techniques for Evaluating Materials and
Products

1. LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)

2. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT (SA)
Environmental Impact
n Value
EIV   (Vi )Wi
i 1

• Vi = Relative change of the environmental quality of parameters

• Wi= Relative importance or weight or parameter

• n = total number of environmental parameters

Quantification of Environmental Impact

Changes of environmental parameters

 Severe (+5 or -5) Severe

 Higher (+4 or -4) Higher

 Moderate (+3 or -3) Moderate

 Low (+2 or -2) Low

 Very Low (+1 or -1) Very low

 No change (0) No change

0 1 2 3 4 5
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)

Life-cycle assessment (LCA), also called life-cycle analysis, is a

qualitative technique for the evaluation of environmental impacts
of construction materials and products, services, and processes.
• LCA identifies and quantifies environmental impacts of a product for a
given scope, usually cradle to gate (manufacturer’s gate) or cradle to grave
(use then disposal or reuse).
• All inputs (e.g., energy, water, and material resources) and outputs (e.g.,
emissions, effluents, and waste to air, water, and land) are quantified.
LCA - Phases

An LCA is comprised of four phases:

Phase-1: Goal and scope definition

– During this phase the purpose of the LCA is defined to include questions
to be answered, the level of detail to be achieved, the scope of analysis
(e.g., cradle to gate or other), and priorities regarding the various
environmental impacts possible throughout the life cycle.
LCA - Phases

Phase-2: Inventory analysis

This phase involves data collection on environmental inputs and

outputs of the material or product under study at all phases of its life
cycle.
• The depth of information gathered will be consistent with the goal and scope of the study.
• The results of this phase are called life-cycle inventory (LCI).

• The detailed LCI tracking of all flows can be very complex.

• The U.S. LCI database is a public-private research partnership that provides LCI data for
commonly used materials and processes.
– Some of the data is self-reported by manufacturers.
LCA - Phases

Phase-3: Impact assessment

This phase is an evaluation of the environmental impacts of the

inputs and outputs identified in the inventory analysis phase.
• LCI data is characterized by its impact potentials, such as its global warming
potential or its ozone depletion potential.
• These measures, called midpoint indicators, are a way to summarize and
compare the large amounts of inventory data.
• However, there is still disagreement on the best methods of bringing the
midpoint indicators together to assess end-point impacts.
LCA - Phases

Phase-4: Interpretation

This phase is an analysis of the impacts in relation to the goals and

intended use of the LCA.
– Sometimes, weights are applied to the results depending on priorities of
the stakeholders.
LCA - Tools

LCA tools, such as BEES and the Athena Environmental Impact

Estimator, that evaluate construction materials and building
assemblies are in a constant state of development, adding more
products all the time.
• These tools, developed for the construction fields, will be discussed in detail later in
the chapter.
• And while they can be quite useful for some products, they are geared primarily to
evaluating building products and whole assemblies, limiting their application for site
construction materials.
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
Process of LCA for Concrete

For example; for environmental impact assessment of ordinary

concrete, and based on various functions of concrete, concrete
structures and the formation of concrete products can be selected
as major functions.
 Concrete size of 1 m3 may be taken as the functional unit for the
assessment.
 The product stage of concrete (Cradle to Gate) is usually selected as the
system boundary for the life cycle assessment of concrete, as shown on
the next slide.
 Furthermore, the production stages of concrete are divided into raw
material, transportation, and manufacturing stages, and the environmental
impact of factors in each stage on air and water systems.
Process of LCA for Concrete

Environmental impact categories

Global Warming Potential (GWP), Abiotic Depletion Potential (ADP),
Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential (EP), Ozone Depletion
Potential (ODP), and Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP),
LCA Phases for Reinforced Concrete
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
Sustainable Construction Materials
VDB 4333

Chapter-3 (Part-2)
Evaluating the Environmental
and Human Health Impacts
of Materials
By: Nasir Shafiq (Professor)
Examples
Different Concrete Mix
and Slab Design
Tools for LCA Information and
Material Evaluation

Currently there are two LCA evaluation tools in use in North

America for evaluating construction materials—
1. the Environmental Impact Estimator, developed by the Athena
Institute,
2. and Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability
(BEES), developed by the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST).
 Both incorporate LCI data and weighted impacts to evaluate and compare
building (and some site) assemblies.
 They are geared toward building materials and products, yet due to the
overlap of materials between buildings and sites, they can be useful in a
limited way for evaluating site construction materials.
Building for Environmental
and Economic Sustainability (BEES)
Predecessor to BIRDS
For environmental and economic
analysis of building products
Online-based tool
Link to BEES online
Produced by NIST in the US http://ws680.nist.gov/bees/
(A(HY_Y2tJ80wEkAAAAZGU0MjY5MjEtMTVlMy00NjUyLWFjNWUtZTNkM2FjOWExZm
Analyze individual building products (rather thanVjBY5zsKN-x8jZkFWwAaHIk9PoXpc1))/default.aspx
whole building)
Nearly 200 products included
◦ Concrete, roofing, insulation, water distribution piping, cleaning materials, paving, more

Simple to use
◦ Most data and processes set, just choose weighting scheme, product(s) of interest, and transport distance

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BEES Analysis
Parameters

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 Environmental Weighting Scheme

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Performance weights
BEES can output a “score” in addition
to impact category indicators
This weights importance of
environment and economics in scores
For environmental analysis alone,
enter 100
Discount rate deals with time value of
money (does not affect environmental)
◦ 1 dollar invested today might be worth 2
dollars in 10 years

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Element Selection
Major group elements include
◦ Building Maintenance
◦ Building Repair & Remodeling
◦ Building Sitework
◦ Domestic Water Distribution
◦ Equipment & Furnishings
◦ Interiors
◦ Sanitary Waste
◦ Services
◦ Shell
◦ Substructure

All products in one list

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Product Selection
Inventory results
by life cycle stage

Only appears after

clicking compute

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Output Type Selection

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BEES Output

By life cycle stage

By environmental flow

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