A new approach to evaluate the sustainability of cementitious materials

One of the main topic of the 21st century is the climate change and, in particular, the greenhouse effect caused by the higher amount of carbon dioxide emissions annually released in the atmosphere. In order to mitigate the global warming, different solutions were proposed also in the cement and concrete industry such as the optimization of cement plant, the limitation of the clinker factor, the use of alternative binders to Portland cement and the reduction in consumption of not renewable natural resources by using industrial by-products. However, the concept of sustainable development in the construction materials industry is not well defined and, currently, there are no holistic models capable of assessing the environmental footprint of cement-based materials. For this reason, a new Empathetic Added Sustainability Index (EASI) was proposed taking into account both the environmental impact of construction materials through the global warming potential (GWP), the gross energy requirement (GER) and the natural raw materials consumption (NRMC) but also the durability performance and the engineering performance required as a function of the specific application.