Building Material Use and Associated Environmental Impacts in China 2000–2015

A rapidly
increasing use of building materials poses threats to
resources and the environment. Using novel, localized life cycle inventories
and building material intensity data, this study quantifies the resource
use of building materials in mainland China and evaluates their embodied
environmental impacts. Newly built floor area and related material
consumption grew 11% per annum from 2000 to 2015, leveling off at
the end of this period. Concrete, sand, gravel, brick, and cement
were the main materials used. Spatially, construction activities expanded
from east China into the central part of the country. Cement, steel,
and concrete production are the key contributors to associated environmental
impacts, e.g., cement and steel each account for around 25% of the
global warming potential from building materials. Building materials
contribute considerably to the impact categories of human toxicity,
fossil depletion, and global warming, emphasizing that greenhouse
gas emissions should not be the sole focus of research on environmental
impacts of building materials. These findings quantitatively shed
light on the urgent need to reduce environmental impacts and to conserve
energy in the manufacturing processes of building materials on the
national scale.