Life-Cycle Assessment of Concrete Dam Construction: Comparison of Environmental Impact of Rock-Filled and Conventional Concrete
Publication: Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 139, Issue 12
Abstract
Massive concrete dam projects will be constructed in the next 10 years to respond to the increasing demand for clean energy and water resources in developing countries. Because of their ample use of cement, these projects have a significant environmental impact, including the production of carbon dioxide () emissions. Rock-filled concrete (RFC) is an innovative dam construction method that promises better environmental performance than conventional concrete (CC) in the material production stage by saving a large amount of cement. However, the environmental loads throughout the entire life cycle of a dam must be quantified. Thus, this paper aims to evaluate the environmental loads in the lifetime of a dam and reveal the environmental impact of RFC relative to CC over the entire life cycle of a concrete dam. Through reviewing the limitations of the existing life-cycle assessment (LCA) models, a hybrid LCA model is applied to achieve this goal. The results from a case study of a concrete dam project in China are presented to demonstrate the environmental benefit of RFC throughout the lifetime of a dam. The results indicate that RFC reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 64% and energy consumption by approximately 55% compared with CC. With regard to each life cycle stage, RFC decreased the emissions by 72% in material production, 25% in transportation, 51% in construction, and 15.6% in operation and maintenance. The conclusion is that RFC is more environmentally responsible throughout the life cycle of a dam’s, and that the environmental benefit of RFC may help to encourage decision makers to select the appropriate methods in the planning phase.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by both the National High Technology Research and Development Program 863 and the National Key Laboratory in China (No. 2012AA06A112 and No. 2012-Ky-02), both of which support projects that study physical and mechanical performance and application in dam construction sites, as related to the RFC method. Much appreciation is also due to the corporations that provided the design specifications and data for this study.
References
Abril, G., et al. (2005). “Carbon dioxide and methane emissions and the carbon budget of a 10-year old tropical reservoir (Petit Saut, French Guiana).” Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19(4), 1–16.
An, X., et al. (2005). “Experimental study of self-compacting concrete filled pre-packed rock.” Concrete, 1, 3–6 (in Chinese).
Bilec, M., Ries, R., Matthews, H. S., and Sharrard, A. L. (2006). “Example of a hybrid life-cycle assessment of construction processes.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 12(4), 207–215.
BP China. (2010). The emission coefficient for diesels was from BP China.
Bullard, C. W., Penner, P. S., and Pilati, D. A. (1978). “Net energy analysis, Handbook for combining process and input-output analysis.” Resources Energ., 1(3), 267–313.
Cass, D., and Mukherjee, A. (2011). “Calculation of greenhouse gas emissions for highway construction operations by using a hybrid life-cycle assessment approach: Case study for pavement operations.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 137(11), 1–37.
China Institute of Water Resources, and Hydropower Research (CIWRH). (2007). Design specification on the Hengshan project, CIWRH, Beijing, China.
China Water Resource Press. (2003). “Design specification for concrete arch dams.”, Beijing, China.
Chinese National Committee on Large Dams (CHINCOLD). (2008). Statistic database on dams in China, CHINCOLD, Beijing, China.
Coltro, L., Garcia, E., and Queiroz, G. (2003). “Life cycle inventory for electric energy system in Brazil.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess., 8(5), 290–296.
European Commission Joint Research Centre (ELCD). (2009). European reference life-cycle database.
Gagnon, L., Belanger, C., and Uchiyama, Y. (2002). “Life-cycle assessment of electricity generation options: The status of research in year 2001.” Energ. Pol., 30, 1267–1278.
Goralczyk, M. (2003). “Life-cycle assessment in the renewable energy sector.” Appl. Energ., 75, 205–211.
Gu, Y., Chang, Y., and Liu, Y. (2009). “Integrated life-cycle costs analysis and life-cycle assessment model for decision making of construction project.” Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management: 16th Int. Conf., Beijing, China.
Guggemos, A. (2003). “Environmental impacts of on-site construction: Focus on structural frames.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Hendrickson, C., Horvath, A., Joshi, S., and Lave, L. (1998). “Economic input-output models for environmental life-cycle assessment.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 32(7), 184A–191A.
Hendrickson, C., Lave, L., and Matthew, H. S. (2006). “Environmental life cycle assessment of goods and services: An input-output approach.” Resources for the future, Washington, DC.
Huang, M., An, X., Zhou, H., and Jin, F. (2008a). “Rock-fill concrete, a new type of concrete.” Proc., Int. Fib. Symp. 2008, 1047–1049.
Huang, M., An, X., Zhou, H., and Jin, F. (2008b). “Rock-filled concrete—Development, investigations and applications.” Int. Water Power Dam Constr., 60(4), 20–24.
Huang, M., Zhou, H., An, X., and Jin, F. (2006). “The environmental impact assessment of rock-filled concrete technology in dam construction.” Proc., Hydropower China, 1188–1197.
Hung, C., Wei, C., Wang, S., and Lin, F. (2009). “The study on the carbon dioxide sequestration by applying wooden structure on eco-technological and leisure facilities.” Renew. Energ., 34(8), 1896–1901.
International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD). (2012). Role of dam, 〈http://www.icold-cigb.org/GB/Dams/Role_of_Dams.asp〉 (Jul. 15, 2012).
International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2006). “IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories.” IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO. (2006). “Environmental management—Life cycle assessment—Principals and framework.”, Geneva, Switzerland.
Jin, F., An, X., Shi, J., and Zhang, C. (2005). “Study on rock-filled concrete dam.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 36(11), 1348–1351 (in Chinese).
Joshi, S. (1999). “Product environmental life-cycle assessment using input-output techniques.” J. Indust. Ecol., 3(2–3), 95–120.
Keoleian, G. A., et al. (2005). “Life cycle modeling of concrete bridge design: Comparison of ECC link slabs and conventional steel expansion joints.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 11(1), 51–60.
Kim, S., and Dale, B. E. (2005). “Life cycle inventory information of the United States electricity system.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess., 10(4), 294–304.
Kondo, Y., Moriguchi, Y., and Shimizu, H. (1998). “ Emissions in Japan: Influences of imports and exports.” Appl. Energ., 59(2–3), 163–174.
Lave, L., Cobas-Flores, E., Hendrickson, C., and McMichael, F. (1995). “Using input-output analysis to estimate economy wide discharges.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 29(9), 420A–426A.
Lempérière, F. (2006). “The role of dams in the XXI century. Report for ICOLD’S Committee on Governance of Dams.” Hydropower Dams, 3, 99–108.
Lenzen, M. (1998). “Primary energy and greenhouse gases embodied in Australian final consumption: An input-output analysis.” Energ. Pol., 26(6), 495–506.
Leontief, W. (1970). “Environmental repercussions and the economic structure: An input-output approach.” Rev. Econ. Stat., 52(3), 262–271.
Liu, C., Huang, M., An, X., and Jin, F. (2012). “The hybrid evaluation on the resourcization of abundant materials using rock-filled concrete.” 7th National Symp. on Recycling Economy and Ecological Industry, Beijing, China.
Liu, X. L., et al. (2010). “Method and basic model for development of Chinese reference life cycle database of fundamental industries.” J. Environ. Sci., 30(10), 2136–2144.
Meier, P. J. (2002). “Life-cycle assessment of electricity generation systems and applications for climate change policy analysis.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
Monkman, S., and Shao, Y. X. (2010). “Integration of carbon sequestration into curing process of precast concrete.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 37(2), 302–310.
Munksgaard, J., Pedersen, K. A., and Wier, M. (2000). “Impacts of household consumption on emissions.” Energ. Econ., 22(4), 423–440.
Pacca, S. A. (2003). “Global warming effect applied to electricity generation technologies.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA.
Pesonen, H. L., et al. (2000). “Framework for scenario development in LCA.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess., 5(1), 21–30.
Qi, G. Y., Shen, L. Y., Zeng, S. X., and Jorge, Q. J. (2010). “The drivers for contractors’ green innovation: an industry perspective.” J. Cleaner Prod., 18(14), 1358–1365.
Rosa, L. P., Santos, M. A. D., Matvienko, B., Santos, E. O. D., and Sikar, E. (2004). “Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical regions.” Clim. Change, 66(1–2), 9–21.
Scientific Certification Systems (SCS). (2000). “A study of the Lake Chelan Hydroelectric Project based on life-cycle stressor-effects assessment.” S. Rhodes, et al., eds., Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County, WA, Oakland, CA, 〈http://www.chelanpud.org/relicense/study/refer/4841_1.PDF〉 (Mar. 26, 2013).
Shao, Y., Mirza, M. S., and Wu, X. (2006). “ sequestration using calcium-silicate concrete.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 33(6), 776–784.
Singh, A., Berghom, G., Joshi, S., and Syal, M. (2011). “Review of life-cycle assessment applications in building construction.” J. Archit. Eng., 17(1), 15–23.
Society of Environmental Toxicology, and Chemistry (SETAC). (1993). “Guidelines for life-cycle assessment: A ‘Code of Practice.’” SETAC Workshop, SETAC, Sesimbra, Portugal.
Suh, S. (2004). “Functions, commodities and environmental impacts in an ecological-economic model.” Ecol. Econ., 48(4), 451–467.
Suh, S., et al. (2004). “System boundary selection in life-cycle inventories.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 38(3), 657–664.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). (2009). “Copenhagen accord to climate action: Tracking national commitments to curb global warming.” Copenhagen, Denmark, 〈http://www.nrdc.org/international/copenhagenaccords/〉.
United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). (2000). NONROAD, Ann Arbor, MI.
Water Resources, and Hydropower Planning, and Design General Institute. (2004). Hydraulic construction mechanical quota, Beijing, China.
World Commission on Dam (WCD). (2000). “Workshop on dam reservoirs and greenhouse gases (part III).” Second of the World Commission on Dams.
Zhang, G. (2009). Speech in the national energy conference in China, Beijing, China.
Zhang, Q., Karney, B., MacLean, H. L., and Feng, J. (2007). “Life-cycle inventory of energy use and greenhouse gas emissions for two hydropower projects in China.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 13(4), 271–279.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
Volume 139 • Issue 12 • December 2013
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 17, 2012
Accepted: Jun 10, 2013
Published online: Jun 13, 2013
Published in print: Dec 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Jan 29, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.