Life cycle assessment of construction materials and its environmental impacts for sustainable development

Concrete is one of the most durable materials and widely opted among others in the field of the Construction Industry. Concrete is an agglomeration of materials involving aggregates, gravel, cement, sand, and water. Upon mixing with water, the cohesive mix solidifies and hardens through a process called hydration. With numerous advantages to offer viz being more economical, ability to harden at ambient temperature, ability to mould in any shape, good water resistance characteristics, to name a few, concrete has gained tremendous popularity in civil engineering works. But the question arises if concrete is a sustainable material, and whether we are using it in the quantum that it could be made available for future generations with the resources being a constraint. This work focuses on the Life cycle assessment of construction materials with focal point being Concrete and Timber. The work adopts bamboo in the form of timber for replacement. In this research Two single storeyed residential buildings are considered where one is built with RCC whereas other comprises of bamboo as an alternative to steel replacement in the construction of timber residential which not only enhances the tensile strength of the building but also is most desirable for low cost housing for necessitous and comparison is made of both residential buildings on the basis of their assessment of life cycle of environmental impacts that they exhibit from cradle to grave scenario and reach the decision which residential building is more sustainable without compromising the strength and other related factors This work also highlights the comparison of Global warming potential, smog potential, Ozone depletion, and many more Environmental Impacts of using concrete and timber in the construction of a residential building using Athena impact estimator software. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 2022 International Conference on Materials and Sustainable Manufacturing Technology.