Concrete is the primary building material worldwide with a substantial impact on the built environment sustainability. Hence, it is necessary to assess concrete's combined functionality, economic and environmental impact. In this paper, two concrete sustainability assessment frameworks, MARS-SC and CONCRETop, were studied. Building on the identified gaps, a new framework, ECO2 was developed. ECO2 is a multi-criteria decision analysis framework that accounts for carbon sequestration of concrete, impact allocation of raw materials, and the impact from the use and end-of-life phases. Hence, it could be used to optimize the proportions of a concrete mix based on a user-defined sustainability objective. A case study concluded that, due to the whole life cycle scope, the environmental impact calculated through ECO2 is 20% higher than that by MARS-SC and CONCRETop. In case of reinforced concrete, where service life requirements are different, the ranking of the alternatives according to ECO2 will significantly change comparatively.

The construction sector is a major contributor to global warming. One solution to the challenge is to develop new sustainable material alternatives. The BioZEment concept employs bio-catalytic dissolution and precipitation of calcium carbonate as a novel alternative to concrete. In this report, the reduction in global warming potential of using BioZEment is assessed with a building stock model, where the use of conventional concrete is compared to the use of BioZEment in Norwegian dwellings until 2100. The assessment is conducted with the assumption that BioZEment has expected material properties and is gradually penetrating the building stock until it reaches a full implementation by 2050.

Results indicate that the use of BioZEment has a higher potential of reducing global warming potential than conventional concrete, regardless of the development of the cement industry. BioZEment could decrease cumulative greenhouse gas emissions with ca 15 % by 2100 compared to using conventional concrete with a conservative development and slightly less if compared to using concrete with an optimistic development (including among other initiatives breakthrough technologies like carbon capture and storage, and carbon capture and utilization).

Results also indicate that, while BioZEment is not fully implemented in the entire building stock, using the optimistic development concrete instead of conservative concrete provides the lowest cumulative emissions by 2100. That means that including several migration strategies at the same time will reduce emissions further than taking one single action.

The building stock model provides interesting indications about the potential of BioZEment, which can guide further development. If Norway is to meet its ambitious goals of emission reductions and climate neutrality, it is important to design thought through and robust strategies for the construction sector.

The lifespan of construction works is crucial to achieve a low environmental impact for aprovided function. Supplementary cementitious materials are increasingly used in concrete production where the effect on the service life of structures needs to be assessed. In order to achieve a long service life, the design, flexibility in the design and workmanship also needs to be addressed.

Today’s LCC and LCA analyses are based on statistics of service life of older bridges and are not material specific. There is still a lack of information about how the service life of concrete bridges is affected by different measures. The overall goal of this project was to close this information gap. The project aimed at describing key factors that affect the lifespan of concrete bridges. Key factors may reflect aspects of both durability and the utility of the design. The purpose was to investigate how the service life can be included in LCA and LCC analyses and to create a basis for future LCA and LCC analyses of concrete road bridges.

Factors affecting the service life of concrete bridges have been identified through a literature survey and interviews. The studies comprised the service life of concretebridges, durability, service life models, requirements and guidelines, previous LCA and LCC studies as well as service life-extending measures throughout the whole lifecycle from material production to the end-of-life.

The studies showed that reinforcement corrosion caused by chlorides is the most common cause of damage in concrete bridges where the service life of parts of theconstruction is usually shorter than the design service life. Even though frost resistance has historically been more restricting when choosing a concrete composition. The restrictions have, however, been reduced lately but there needs to be more focus on finding a design method that takes into account the impact of the concrete composition regarding reinforcement corrosion in order to find the most suitable solution for each individual case.

The study shows the service life of concrete bridges depends not only on the expert’s knowledge of concrete but also on quality of execution. There is great potential to extend the service life of concrete bridges and to reduce their climate impact. However, it is important that the service life-extending measures also have a low embodied impact.

The results of the survey show that technology and cost are the highest priority for mostrespondents, except for researchers where the focus is more on the environment and durability. Many also consider that contractors should set more demands towards environmentally friendly solutions.

The results are compiled in the form of recommendations for reduced environmental impact and costs, as well as for how an LCA and LCC can be carried out with regard to service life.

Concrete has a significant influence on the global warming due to its high usage in the construction industry. There are a few different strategies to increase the sustainability potential of concrete structures. Most of these strategies involve reduction of the total clinker content. One strategy, which is often neglected due to its complexity, is to increase the durability of the concrete structure. By increasing the durability, the need for repair and maintenance is reduced and thus less resources are consumed during the service life. One of the main deterioration mechanisms in concrete structures is the corrosion of steel reinforcement. A strategy to increase the service life of concrete structures in harsh environment would therefore be to increase the durability of concrete or to use low- or non-corrosive reinforcement instead of traditional steel reinforcement. This paper focuses on the latter. Glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars are non-corrosive and have emerged as an alternative to steel bars in reinforced concrete structures in harsh environment. They have other mechanical properties than steel and opens for alternative mix designs for concrete. However, the environmental impact of concrete structures reinforced with GFRP bars has not been fully investigated and most life-cycle assessment (LCA) studies have an exchange ratio of 1:1 between GFRP and steel bars despite differences in the mechanical properties. This paper studies the climate impact of concrete columns reinforced with GFRP bars through an LCA methodology, focusing on the functional unit.

The sustainability of concrete infrastructures is highly dependent on the durability. A longer service life with low repair work reduces the resource use and hence the greenhouse gas emissions. New admixtures based on nanomaterials have the possibility to increase the service life. However, it is also important to consider the embodied impact of the material and safety issues concerning new nanomaterials. Here we present an overview on the latest developments on the safety and sustainability of some novel admixtures.

In the collaborative forum Positive footprint housing® Riksbyggen is building the Viva residential quarter, which is a sustainability project at the very forefront of what is possible with contemporary construction. The idea is that this residential quarter should be fully sustainable in ecological, economic and social terms. Since 2013, a number of pilot studies have been completed under the auspices of the Viva project framework thanks to financing from the Swedish Energy Agency. The various building frame alternatives that have been evaluated are precast concrete, cast in-situ concrete and solid wood, all proposed by leading commercial suppliers. The report includes a specific requirement for equivalent functions during the use phase of the building, B. An interpretation has been provided that investigates the building engineering aspects in detail, as well as an account of the results based on the social community requirements specified in Viva, durability, fire, noise and energy consumption in the Swedish National Board of Building, Planning and Housing building regulations (BBR), plus Riksbyggen’s own requirements, Sweden Green Building Council’s Environmental Building Gold (Miljöbyggnad Guld) and 100-year life cycle. Given that the alternatives have different long-term characteristics (and also that our knowledge of these characteristics itself varies), these functional requirements have been addressed by setting up different scenarios in accordance with the EPD standard EN 15978. Because Riksbyggen has specified a requirement for a 100-year life cycle, we have also opted for an analysis period of 100 years. The results show no significant differences between concrete and timber structures for the same functions during the life cycle, either for climate or for primary energy. The minor differences reported are accordingly less than the degree of uncertainty involved in the study. The available documentation on the composition of the relevant intumescent paint coating on solid wood frames differs from source to source, so it was not possible to fully allow for the significance of this. The LCA has not included functional changes in the building linked to load-bearing characteristics, noise, moisture, health or other problems that may result in increased maintenance and replacement. The concrete houses have been dimensioned for 100 years, for instance, in accordance with tried and tested standards and experience. The solid wood house is not dimensioned in the same way, and this has led to us having to assume various scenarios.

The results also show the following:

• The uncertainties involved in comparing different structures and alternative solutions are very significant. The results are affected by factors such as life cycle, the functional requirements taken into consideration, transportation, design and structural details, etc.

• Variations in the built items and a considerable degree of uncertainty in the assumptions make it difficult to obtain significant results on comparisons. Only actual construction projects with known specific data, declared from a life cycle perspective that takes into account actual building developer requirements and involving different scenarios (best, documented and worst-case) for the user stage can currently be compared.

• In the other hand, comparisons restricted to different concrete structures only, or to different timber structures only, ought to involve a lower degree of uncertainty. These would then provide results that are significant as well as improvement requirements that are relevant.

• There is potential for improving concrete by imposing requirements on the material

• There is potential for improving solid wood frames by developing and guaranteeing well-documented long-term characteristics for all functional requirements.

The LCAs were performed as an iterative process where all parties were given the opportunity to submit their viewpoints and suggestions for changes during the course of the work. This helped ensure that all alternatives have been properly thought through.

Because, during the project, Riksbyggen opted to procure a concrete frame, in the final stage the researchers involved focused on ensuring the procurement process would result in the concrete frame as built meeting the requirements set out above. As things currently stand, the material requirements for the concrete are limited by the production options open to the suppliers, and this is therefore being investigated in the manufacture of precast concrete frames for the Viva cooperative housing association.

In order to reach a specific service life of reinforced concrete structures a certain cover thickness is needed. At present, this is regulated by national standards that also limit the amount and type of supplementary cementitious materials in different exposure environments. The regulations do not, however, consider the actual durability performance of concrete with supplementary cementitious materials. As a consequence, the LCA results might be misleading. This paper shows the environmental impact of concrete with supplementary cementitious materials in chloride environment considering their specific performances. Prescriptive and performance based service life prediction models for chloride ingress are applied and compared.

Estimates indicate that the total climate impact, from a lifecycle perspective, generated by Swedish construction processes reaches the same magnitude as emissions from all passenger cars in Sweden. A large part of the emissions from construction of roads and railways arise from production of steel and concrete used in bridges and other infrastructure structures. In this research, several cases of existing concrete bridges have been investigated. The case studies are in a very firm way analyzed, and then opportunities for reducing climate gas emissions are described and elaborated upon. Accordingly, design and dimensioning through the use of today's technology and material selection are discussed. Without developing new ways to construct bridges, or comparing concrete with other materials, a useful guide on how to use technology and opportunities that are available for constructing climate smarter versions of standard bridges today is developed and described.

A large part of the energy consumption in the European Union member states is related to space heating, a significant share of which is due to transmission losses through the building envelope. Vacuum insulation panels (VIPs), with unique thermal insulation properties, do therefore provide an interesting alternative for the building industry. This paper presents the results of a life cycle analysis (LCA) study that compares the environmental impact of three hypothetical buildings, a standard residential building, a regular well-insulated building and a building insulated with VIPs. The environmental impact includes the global warming potential (GWP) and the primary energy (PE) use, from the material production stage to the building operational phase (50 years). The cradle-to-gate environmental impact categories of ozone depletion potential (ODP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP) of all building components are also assessed. The study shows a comparatively lower operational energy for the VIP insulated building and a relatively lower total greenhouse gas emission as well as the possibility to save significant living space. The results also show that the VIPs have measurable environmental impact during the product stage while the core material of the VIPs has considerable impact on the results.

In the collaborative forum Positive footprint housing® Riksbyggen is building the Viva residential quarter, which is a sustainability project at the very forefront of what is possible with contemporary construction. The idea is that this residential quarter should be fully sustainable in ecological, economic and social terms. Since 2013, a number of pilot studies have been completed under the auspices of the Viva project framework thanks to financing from the Swedish Energy Agency.

The various building frame alternatives that have been evaluated are precast concrete, cast in-situ concrete and solid wood, all proposed by leading commercial suppliers. The report includes a specific requirement for equivalent functions during the use phase of the building, B. An interpretation has been provided that investigates the building engineering aspects in detail, as well as an account of the results based on the social community requirements specified in Viva, durability, fire, noise and energy consumption in the Swedish National Board of Building, Planning and Housing building regulations (BBR), plus Riksbyggen’s own requirements, Sweden Green Building Council’s Environmental Building Gold (Miljöbyggnad Guld) and 100-year life cycle. Given that the alternatives have different long-term characteristics (and also that our knowledge of these characteristics itself varies), these functional requirements have been addressed by setting up different scenarios in accordance with the EPD standard EN 15978.

Because Riksbyggen has specified a requirement for a 100-year life cycle, we have also opted for an analysis period of 100 years.

The results show no significant differences between concrete and timber structures for the same functions during the life cycle, either for climate or for primary energy. The minor differences reported are accordingly less than the degree of uncertainty involved in the study.

The available documentation on the composition of the relevant intumescent paint coating on solid wood frames differs from source to source, so it was not possible to fully allow for the significance of this.

The LCA has not included functional changes in the building linked to load-bearing characteristics, noise, moisture, health or other problems that may result in increased maintenance and replacement. The concrete houses have been dimensioned for 100 years, for instance, in accordance with tried and tested standards and experience. The solid wood house is not dimensioned in the same way, and this has led to us having to assume various scenarios.

The results also show the following:

• The uncertainties involved in comparing different structures and alternative solutions are very significant. The results are affected by factors such as life cycle, the functional requirements taken into consideration, transportation, design and structural details, etc.

• Variations in the built items and a considerable degree of uncertainty in the assumptions make it difficult to obtain significant results on comparisons. Only actual construction projects with known specific data, declared from a life cycle perspective that takes into account actual building developer

requirements and involving different scenarios (best, documented and worst-case) for the user stage can currently be compared.

• In the other hand, comparisons restricted to different concrete structures only, or to different timber structures only, ought to involve a lower degree of uncertainty, These would then provide results that are significant as well as improvement requirements that are relevant.

• There is potential for improving concrete by imposing requirements on the material

• There is potential for improving solid wood frames by developing and guaranteeing well-documented long-term characteristics for all functional requirements.

The LCAs were performed as an iterative process where all parties were given the opportunity to submit their viewpoints and suggestions for changes during the course of the work. This helped ensure that all alternatives have been properly thought through.

Because, during the project, Riksbyggen opted to procure a concrete frame, in the final stage the researchers involved focused on ensuring the procurement process would result in the concrete frame as built meeting the requirements set out above. As things currently stand, the material requirements for the concrete are limited by the production options open to the suppliers, and this is therefore being investigated in the manufacture of precast concrete frames for the Viva cooperative housing association.