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Free Online Educational Presentation

Life Cycle Assessment in Concrete Mix Design: Lessons from the Eco Concrete Competition

With low-carbon concrete requirements gaining momentum worldwide, the construction industry needs to take sustainability education to the next level. In view of the fact that concrete's climate change impact and its solutions vary across regions, education should be provided uniformly and in a large-scale manner based on local conditions. The ACI 130 Committee has developed and organized the Eco Concrete Competition since 2017. This competition aims to promote the idea of environmental performance in concrete mix designs and to think critically about low-impact solutions while considering their performance. This presentation will discuss the structure and experiences of organizing three versions of the competition. The importance of life cycle accounting, the context-specificity of solutions, and concrete performance accounting in educating the upcoming generation of civil engineers will be elaborated. The streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA) tool developed for this competition will be showcased as a possible educational tool for civil engineering students. Finally, lessons learned by and from student participants will be provided to clarify the points that should be emphasized in the LCA education of concrete.

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