Life cycle CO2 evaluation on reinforced concrete structures with high-strength concrete

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the environment performance of high-strength concrete used in super tall buildings as material of environmental load reduction. To this end, this study proposed a plan for the evaluation of energy consumption and CO2 emission throughout the life cycle of the building, and calculated the energy consumption and CO2 emission throughout the life cycle of tall apartment building that was actually constructed using this plan. Then, we evaluated the energy consumption and CO2 emission reduction performance for the life cycle of the building by the decrease of concrete and reinforced rebar quantities and the increase of building lifespan obtained through conversion of existing building's concrete compressive strength to 40 MPa high-strength concrete. As a result, the life cycle energy consumption in case 3, a high-strength concrete building, decreased 15.53% and 2.95% respectively compared with cases 1 and 2. The evaluation of the general strength concrete buildings and the life cycle CO2 emission also decreased 16.70% and 3.37% respectively, compared with cases 1 and 2. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.