Page 131 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

6.3 Green building materials 127
development and application conference put forward the definition of green building mate-
rials, pointing out that these materials should adopt cleaner production technology. Com-
pared with traditional building materials, green building materials should be cleaner in
the production, construction, use, and dismantling processes.
Green building materials can vary in types and functions. However, in the selection of
green building materials, the characteristics and construction environment of buildings
should be fully considered. In the process of traditional building construction, a large amount
of dust will be generated, causing serious environmental pollution problems, and its input
cost is large. Compared with traditional building materials, green building materials have
obvious advantages in terms of service performance and economic benefits.
Nowadays, resources are increasingly scarce and sustainable development has strategic
significance. Green building materials are in line with the strategic planning for sustainable
development (Chen, 2019). In order to enhance people’s awareness of building environmental
protection, China has been increasing the implementation of green building projects, the pur-
pose of which is to encourage residents to actively use environmentally friendly building ma-
terials, to build a harmonious green home. In addition, China also actively encourages
relevant personnel to continuously develop more environment-friendly building materials,
and continuously increase environmental protection efforts to promote the healthy develop-
ment of China’s environment (Cheng and Li, 2019).
At present, environmentally friendly building materials have been recognized by more
and more residents. The development of environment-friendly building materials plays a
great role in actively advocating environmental protection for the country.

6.3.1 Life cycle assessment of building materials
6.3.1.1 Methodology
Life cycle assessment is an important application of life cycle thinking in the field of envi-
ronmental protection. It is used to explore the energy consumption of buildings and their en-
vironmental impacts. There is a relevant definition of life cycle assessment in the world,
pointing out that it is a method of objectively evaluating the environmental load of a product,
activity, or process. According to the LCA methodology framework proposed by the Interna-
tional Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) in 1993, its basic struc-
ture is divided into four organic parts: the setting of evaluation purpose and investigation
scope (ISO14041), inventory analysis (ISO14041), life cycle impact assessment (ISO14042),
and result analysis (ISO14043) (ISO, 2006).
Surveys are usually carried out to collect necessary data and information for life cycle as-
sessment. The scope of a building’s survey includes building functions, building area, year of
assessment, building structure, recycling of building materials, and use of construction
equipment. The survey of basic building data also includes energy consumption for construc-
tion equipment and a list of released gases. Based on life cycle thinking, inventory analysis is a
process of data collection for environmental load of the system based on material balance and
energy balance. The analysis of building materials inventory should be collected from seven
phases, including design, construction, replacement, energy consumption, maintenance and
management, repair and renewal, and disposal phase (Xiong and Deng, 2016). Impact