Sustainability in the EU cement industry: the Italian and German experiences

Supino, Stefania; Malandrino, Ornella; Testa, Mario; Sica, Daniela

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.09.022

Cited by 135 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…As stated before, the cement industry is energy intensive with high CO2-emissions (Aranda Usón et al, 2013;Supino et al, 2016). Approximately 40 % of the emitted CO2 are caused by burning fossil fuels in the cement ciln.…”

Section: Substitution Of Fossil Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Environmental assessment in the building materials industry: How are the results of life-cycle-assessment (LCA) for concrete influenced by technology and regulations?

Meglin¹,

Kytzia²

2019

Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies (SCMT)

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In the building material industry, sustainability concerns are dominated by the role of raw materials, especially in the production of cement (e.g. fuels) and concrete (e.g. recycled aggregates). As raw materials become increasingly scarce worldwide, this an accelerating challenge faced by both individual companies and countries. To investigate the environmental impact of the building materials industry, a widely accepted tool is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Although LCA is frequently used to evaluate the sustainability of building materials, recent studies show that the interpretation of LCA results can be difficult in sustainable construction due to ambiguity of underlying assumptions.In the ongoing research project "Co-Evolution of Business Strategies in material and construction industries and public policies" we analyse how the results of LCA for concrete building materials are influenced by the production technology, regulations (e.g. waste treatment), socio-technical settings (e.g. energy supply systems) and methodological choices in LCA. Our results are based on an intensive literature review and scenario analysis based on a model of the concrete product system using LCA.It shows that differing results of LCA studies can be accounted to variations of cement content, clinker to cement ratio or share of alternative fuels in the fuel mix in cement production. Alternative methodological choices in LCA influence the results for Global Warming Potential GWP when carbon uptake during service life and recycling of concrete is considered (shift of perspective from cradle-to-gate to cradle-to-grave). Allocation rules for SCMs (e.g. ground granulated blast furnace slag GBFS) or alternative fuels also have a relevant effect on LCA results for GWP and Cumulative Energy Demand CED.

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Section: Substitution Of Fossil Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 94%

Environmental assessment in the building materials industry: How are the results of life-cycle-assessment (LCA) for concrete influenced by technology and regulations?

Meglin¹,

Kytzia²

2019

Sustainable Construction Materials and Technologies (SCMT)

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“…Studies on national or regional scales have been mainly focused on assessing the development of CE through the analysis of key indicators [8][9][10], and summarizing performance and problems during the developing process of CE in a certain country or region [11][12][13]. Studies on an industrial scale mainly discussed the achievements of cleaner production and economic benefits through the design of CE systems and analyzed problems, which covered industries such as papermaking [14], building materials [15][16][17][18], metals [19,20], chemicals [21], logistics [22], etc., and the industrial symbiosis between the various departments in a certain industrial park [23][24][25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Comprehensive Effects and Optimization of a Circular Economy System of Coal Power and Cement in Kongtong District, Pingliang City, Gansu Province, China

Dong

Wang

et al. 2017

Sustainability

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Abstract:The idea of a circular economy (CE), which differs from traditional linear economy with a high consumption of natural resources and pollution, has captured much interest and attention. This paper uses a CE system of coal power and cement in Kongtong District, Pingliang City, Gansu Province, China as a case study to analyze the comprehensive effects of CE paradigm. Our simulation results, based on system dynamics (SD) modeling, infer that the transformation of manufacturing towards a CE system can prominently help coal power and cement enterprises reduce waste emission and increase economic profits. Through solid waste exchanges, a power plant can achieve over RMB 80 million of additional revenue per year at the highest level. CE also contributes to the reduction of regional pollution, saves mineral resources, and improves the atmospheric environment, an accumulated total of 14.11 million t of natural gypsum and 22.67 million t of coal can be saved. This sets a promising example for coal power and cement plants worldwide. Effective regulatory measures and further optimization towards a circular economy system are essential in maintaining the stable development of a CE system due to the risk of surplus production of upstream industries and other defects.

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“…In [20] the carbon reduction potential for the cement industry were analyzed, in [21] improvement methods for the carbon footprint by optimization of structural systems were developed and in [23] reflective foils were suggested to reduce the carbon footprint by insulation material. Unfortunately most of such developments are not yet used in practice, because carbon savings are not sufficiently rewarded or respectively limited.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential-analysis of grey energy limits for residential buildings in Germany

Brinks¹

2016

Energy and Buildings

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Sustainability in the EU cement industry: the Italian and German experiences

Cited by 135 publications

References 40 publications

Environmental assessment in the building materials industry: How are the results of life-cycle-assessment (LCA) for concrete influenced by technology and regulations?

Environmental assessment in the building materials industry: How are the results of life-cycle-assessment (LCA) for concrete influenced by technology and regulations?

Assessment of Comprehensive Effects and Optimization of a Circular Economy System of Coal Power and Cement in Kongtong District, Pingliang City, Gansu Province, China

Potential-analysis of grey energy limits for residential buildings in Germany

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