Comparison of Environmental Effects of Steel- and Concrete-Framed Buildings
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 11, Issue 2
Abstract
In order to create an environmentally-conscious building, the environmental impacts of the entire service life must be known. Life-cycle assessment (LCA), which evaluates the impacts from all life-cycle phases, from “cradle to grave,” is the best method to achieve this goal. In this paper, LCA is used to quantify the energy use and the environmental emissions during the construction phase of two typical office buildings, one with a structural steel frame and one with a cast-in-place concrete frame, and then these are put in the perspective of the overall service life of each building. The concrete structural-frame construction has more associated energy use, , CO, , particulate matter, , and hydrocarbon emissions due to more formwork used, larger transportation impacts due to a larger mass of materials, and longer equipment use due to the longer installation process. In contrast, the steel-frame construction has more volatile organic compound (VOC) and heavy metal (Cr, Ni, Mn) emissions due to the painting, torch cutting, and welding of the steel members. The energy use and the environmental emissions of the two buildings are comparable if the total impacts from materials’ manufacturing, construction, transportation, use, maintenance, and demolition are considered. Energy use and environmental emissions from office buildings can be reduced through a careful selection of embedded and temporary materials and construction equipment.
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Acknowledgments
A. Horvath is grateful for the support of a CAREER grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Civil and Mechanical Systems, and a Technologies for Sustainable Enterprise grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 11 • Issue 2 • June 2005
Pages: 93 - 101
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 13, 2003
Accepted: Mar 1, 2004
Published online: Jun 1, 2005
Published in print: Jun 2005
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