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Characterization of CO2 emissions during construction of reservoir embankment elevation in South Korea

  • INPUT-OUTPUT AND HYBRID LCA
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The environmentally friendly construction of agricultural infrastructure is much needed for sustainable development because construction is recognized as a cause of environmental degradation. The objective of this study was to estimate and characterize carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during construction of agricultural reservoir embankments for the quantitative environmental assessment and management of CO2 emissions using life cycle assessment method.

Methods

Two reservoirs with different foundation treatment and construction components were selected in this study and their characteristics in CO2 emissions were compared. And CO2 emissions were calculated separately for each of the following major components: construction materials, equipment, and transport. The basic unit of CO2 emissions for construction materials was calculated using the 2009 input–output tables in Korea and the basic unit of CO2 emissions for equipment of transport and construction was also calculated based on the amount of fuel used in a unit time.

Results and discussion

According to the study results, the construction of a water supply process appeared to generate the most emissions among all processes for the two sites. Emissions due to equipment were the highest in site A, while materials generated the most emissions in site B. Differences in emissions are due to differences in the construction process. While the operation time of the equipment in site A increased due to the cofferdam process and a large amount of cement was used in the foundation process in site B.

Conclusions

Characteristic of CO2 emissions differs with different construction processes and thus construction processes need to be optimized for environmental friendly development of agricultural infrastructure through estimation and characterization of CO2 emissions.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Bio-industry Technology Development Program (no.111110-01-1), Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Rural Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-921, South Korea

    Sookack Noh, Taeho Bong & Jaesung Park

  2. Department of Rural Systems Engineering and Research Institute for Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-921, South Korea

    Younghwan Son

Authors
  1. Sookack Noh
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  2. Younghwan Son
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  3. Taeho Bong
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  4. Jaesung Park
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Correspondence to Younghwan Son.

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Responsible editor: Sangwon Suh

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Noh, S., Son, Y., Bong, T. et al. Characterization of CO2 emissions during construction of reservoir embankment elevation in South Korea. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19, 42–51 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0620-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-013-0620-2

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