Impact of carbon neutrality on structural concrete—Not a risk but an opportunity
Akio Kasuga
Abstract
Abstract Cement used in structural concrete accounts for 60% of all cement. Thus, the amount of CO 2 emission by cement in structural concrete in a year is about 5% of the amount emitted by mankind. However, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of structural concrete emits CO 2 not only at the product stage but also at the use stage after construction. In this paper, carbon neutrality is viewed from an economic point of view. Then a rough indicator is presented to grasp the CO 2 emissions of structural concrete. This paper also shows that LCA of structural concrete should consider not only the materials but also the maintenance phase. And low‐carbon technologies currently in use is introduced. Then the need for multi‐cycle structural concrete with a circular economy is presented. Moreover, it is estimated that CO 2 emissions due to disasters in the use stage could be enormous. The carbon neutrality of concrete is not a risk but an opportunity for us.