All Y ou Need to Know About Embodied Carbon Of Concrete The construction sector has been concentrating its efforts on reducing operating emissions from lighting, heating, cooling, hot water, and other plug loads for a number of y ears. As a result, it made significant progress toward adopting renewable energy so urces and increasing efficiencies. Embodied carbon of concrete is a different building - related source of emissions that we must address right away. Embodied Carbon of concre te : What is it? In contras t to operational carbon, embodied carbon of concrete refers to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions caused by the materials, manufacturing, and construction processes over the course of a product's, building's, or infrastructure's w hole lifecycle. Any CO2 r el eased is included in the term "embodied carbon": When conveying the materials to the job site after the building materials have been manufactured (material extraction, delivery to the manufacturer, manufacturing). By the buildin g techniques employed Whe n pr eserving the structure When finally dismantling the structure, transporting the debris, and reusing it By the time building materials get to the project site, some of the embodied carbon of concrete has already entered the envi ronment. Because of this , it's essential that the building sector concentrates on embodied carbon right now. Construction's Embodied Carbon Problem In recent years, the embodied carbon of concrete has been under the spotlight due to improvements in operational carbon reduction. Acco rding to research by the World Green Building Council, embedded carbon contributes more to a building's overall carbon footprint than was previously believed. Why Concrete and Why Now? As the world's carbon emissions must be cut in h alf by 2030 to rea ch the goals of the Paris Ag reement, this decade represents our final opportunity to combat climate change. Around 40% of emissions worldwide come from buildings. It is crucial that the construction community recognises its role in reducing the secto r's c arbon footprint and knows ho w to use the tools available to help them because the world's building stock is predicted to double by 2060, which is the equivalent of adding an entire New York City to the planet every month for the next 40 years. For th e pro ducers of concrete, the antici pated construction boom is excellent news. However, one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in the built environment is cement, the essential component that gives concrete its strength. Since cement production accounts for a bout 7% of global yearly CO2 e missions and since concrete is the most common human - made material, it is one of the main sources of embodied carbon in the built environment. Dealing with Embodied Carbon of concrete The embodied car bon of a building can be decreased in a number of ways, including: 1. Define low - carbon concrete mixtures Modifying the specifications for concrete is one of the simplest ways to reduce em bod ied carbon in concrete . Concrete is often the largest source of emb odied carbon in any project due to its weight and popularity. By adding fly ash , slag, calcined clays, or by permitting manufacturers to apply carbon mineralization technology like Carb onC ure, structural engineers can demand lower carbon concrete mixtures. 2. Material reuse and recycling Salvage components like brick, metal, cracked c oncrete, or water whenever you can. Since the carbon used to produce recycled materials has already been us ed up, they often have a significantly lower embodied carbon footpri nt than virgin materials. Reclaimed water from concrete truck washouts can be u tilised, which cuts down on waste while saving energy that would have been used to manufacture and transpo rt virgin cement to the plant. 3. Lessen your reliance on decorative e lements. Nowadays, finishing with structural materials is fairly common. They red uce embodied carbon significantly while also having a nice appearance. For instance, polished concrete s lab s instead of carpet or vinyl flooring as completed flooring save emb odied carbon.