We are excited to share this impactful research paper that further supports the findings of the Circular Foundation Survey with data on carbon emissions and energy consumption of steel retaining walls versus concrete diaphragm walls!

Recently, we had the honor to read a paper, which was written by CAI Min, a senior engineer from Anhui Provincial Urban Construction Design and Research Institute, and his colleagues, titled "Calculation and Analysis of Carbon Emission and Energy Consumption of prefabricated recyclable retaining wall supporting Structure".

To protect the environment and achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2060, China has launched the ambition for a circular economy. Each industry is requested to contribute towards achieving the societal goal by conserving energy and reducing emissions. Energy consumption from construction and building activities accounts for about 35% of total energy consumption, and therefore the sector is China’s single largest energy consumer. Therefore, it is very important to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption in the whole life cycle of buildings. Consequently, the promotion of circular material usage is of great practical, environmental, and economic significance.

In this paper, the carbon emission and energy consumption of prefabricated steel structure support and traditional reinforced concrete support are analyzed and studied. The calculation model of carbon emission and energy consumption in the whole life cycle of the steel retaining wall is established by means of research and literature review. The carbon emission and energy consumption of two support forms are analyzed and calculated by taking a project in Anhui Province’s Ma 'Anshan city as an example. It is concluded that the carbon emission of steel retaining wall is about 14.3% of that of reinforced concrete diaphragm wall, and the energy consumption is about 16.2%. The construction period is shortened by nearly 1 month, saving the project cost of 2 million yuan.

Therefore, the circular foundation is an important path to achieve the carbon peak of the construction industry by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2060. Click the link to read the full article.

You can download the full article here (in Chinese)