1. Investing in alternative construction materials as a sustainable path towards the reduction of global CO2 emissions A comparative case study of industrialized bamboo and low carbon content cement
Dr. Edwin Zea Escamilla
Centre for Corporate Responsibility and University of Zurich
Construction Task Force INBAR
Prof.Dr. Guillaume Habert, Msc. Giulia Celentano
Chair of Sustainable construction, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Dr. Hector Archilla Santos
BRE Centre for Innovative Construction Materials, Bath University, Great Britain
Dr. Yudiesky Cancio Diaz,
Facultad de Ciencias Económicas, Universidad Central de las Villas, Cuba
7-9 March 2017
Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor, Indonesia
CCRS
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3. Background – Global population
Population growth
50% urban population
GDP growth (mainly urban areas)
Resource demand
Extraction of construction minerals
CO2 emissions (400ppm)
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4. Background – Paris Agreement
The Paris Agreement sets out 29 Articles that cover:
Climate change mitigation and adaptation
Financing
Technology development and transfer,
Capacity building
Transparency of action and support,
Facilitating implementation and compliance. Insight
Climate change mitigation – Article 5:
“Parties should take action to conserve and enhance….sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases….as referred to in Article 4, paragraph 1(d), of the Convention, including forests.”
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5. Data and Methods

6. Data and Methods-- LCA
LCA is a well established methodology (ISO /44) used to assess environmental impact of products and services, and had been used for over 25 years on buildings.
LCA from cradle to gate
Functional unit: Maximum production out-put of a factory
IPCC2013 as environmental impact evaluation method
Carbon sequestration and storage were accounted
SIMApro v8 and EcoInvent 3.3 with characterized datasets
Data was sourced from the LC3 project and collaboration with experts.
Life Cycle Assessment
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7. Data and Methods– Social Return of investment
Land Use
Jobs per MUSD
Initial Investment
# of Buildings per MUSD
Time for Return of Investment
Avoided Emission per MUSD
SRI is based upon traditional cost- benefit analysis. Assigning monetary values to social and environmental returns. It provides an opportunity to demonstrate wider value creation.
Initially developed as an investment tool, it uses a familiar, conventional managerial approach[1].
[1] Rotheroe, N. and A. Richards (2007). "Social return on investment and social enterprise: transparent accountability for sustainable development." Social Enterprise Journal 3(1):
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8. Data and Methods– Data inputs
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9. Results

10. Results – Economy 136 MUSD 1Mt ~4.3 years ~5.8 years ~3.9 years
Production Capacity / Factory per Year
Initial Investment / Factory
Years for return of Investment
136 MUSD
1Mt
~4.3 years
~5.8 years
~3.9 years
Ordinary Portland Cement
Low Carbon Content Cement
7 MUSD
0.08Mt
4 MUSD
0.01Mt
Engineered Bamboo
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11. Results – Society
Initial Investment / Factory
# Buildings per MUSD
# Potential jobs per MUSD
136 MUSD 81 2
126 11 42
118
Ordinary Portland Cement
Low Carbon Content Cement
7 MUSD
Engineered Bamboo
4 MUSD
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12. Results – Environment
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13. Results – Environment 136 MUSD 880 6740 6280 44 -18490 -74
Initial Investment / Factory
mtCO2 eq balance per year
tCO2 eq emissions per MUSD
136 MUSD
880
6740 44
6280
-74
-18490
Ordinary Portland Cement
Low Carbon Content Cement
7 MUSD
Engineered Bamboo
4 MUSD
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14. Discussion

15. Discussion – Maximum investment
Initial Investment / Factory
mtCO2eq balance per year
Land use / raw material km2
136 MUSD
880
0.08
-74 9
-2500
321
Ordinary Portland Cement
Engineered Bamboo
7 MUSD
Engineered Bamboo (max. investment)
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16. Conclusions

17. Conclusions
The studied alternative construction materials offer a positive social return of investment, specially industrialized bamboo
While LC3 is able to significantly reduce the levels of CO2 emission compared to OPC Industrialized bamboo is able to mitigate emissions with the CO2 being captured in plantation and stored in buildings
Investment in industrialized bamboo rebound in positive effects that go beyond the system boundaries of this study but that can be considered as USP for industrialized bamboo
Further discussion and engagement is required from the civil society and the scientific community to better account and credit CO2 emissions or its avoidance e.g. Polluter Pays Principle
The land-demand for the establishment of bamboo plantations needs to be addressed from the Paris agreement perspective (Article 5)
Synergies need to be established among the alternative construction materials in to increase the benefits from each and secure a sustainable pathway toward the reduction of global CO2 emissions from the urban environment
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