Resource Use and Environmental Emissions of U.S. Construction Sectors
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 126, Issue 1
Abstract
Reducing the environmental effects of construction is a continuing professional and social concern to promote sustainable development. In this paper, we estimate the major commodity and service inputs, resource requirements, and environmental emissions and wastes for four major U.S. construction sectors as defined by the Department of Commerce: (1) highway, bridge, and other horizontal construction [0.6% of the 1992 U.S. gross domestic product (GDP)]; (2) industrial facilities and commercial and office buildings (1.5% of GDP); (3) residential one-unit buildings (1.9% of GDP); and (4) other construction (towers, water, sewer and irrigation systems, railroads, etc.) (2.4% of GDP). Our estimates include the entire supply chain of material, energy, and service suppliers for these sectors with the use of a detailed 1992 input-output model of the U.S. economy and publicly available environmental data. We find that in general, the four major U.S. construction sectors appear to use fewer resources and have lower rates of environmental emissions and wastes than their share of the GDP might suggest.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 126 • Issue 1 • January 2000
Pages: 38 - 44
History
Received: Aug 11, 1998
Published online: Jan 1, 2000
Published in print: Jan 2000
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