The purpose of this study is to assess the Embodied Energy (EE) and Carbon IV Oxide (CO 2 ) emissions saving potentials of Corn Cob Ash (CCA) as partial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in concrete. Cement manufacture is energy intensive and contributes considerable amount of CO 2 emissions into the atmosphere. Globally, Concrete is the most consumed man-made material and about 95% of CO 2 emissions from a cubic meter of concrete are from cement manufacturing. In this study, the experimental plan was designed to carry out compressive strength, flexural strength, density and water absorption tests on the concrete using 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% CCA contents to replace OPC. Inventory method of analysis was used to determine the EE and CO 2 emission for all the concrete mixes. The results indicated that the water absorption, density, compressive and flexural strength decreased with increase in CCA content and increased with curing period. The optimum blend was obtained at 10% CCA and 90% OPC contents. The EE and CO 2 emission decreased with increase in CCA contents. At 20% CCA content the EE was 2382 MJ/m 3 which is 12.04% less than that of control samples. Also, 16.37% embodied CO 2 emission saving was obtained for samples containing 20% CCA. The regression equations generated gave standard deviation, S, < 1.0, P-value < 0.05, T-statistics > T24, 0.05 and F-statistics > F1, 23, 0.05. All these indicated that there is good relationship between the predictors and the responses.
The sustainability of our sources of energy has been in the front burner of recent because of the climate change debate -that emissions from fossil fuel based industries are mainly responsible for the greenhouse effect, which has resulted in a change in the global weather pattern. Consequently, various industries including the building industry have adopted energy efficiency measures as a way of prudently using this scarce resource. The building industry is the greatest consumer of energy worldwide, as such any measures taken by the industry to improve energy efficiency in our buildings will have a desirable effect in the reduction of carbon emissions into air. The paper discusses the concept of embodied energy or carbon of building materials as well as the concept of running or operational carbon. It further highlights strategies that could be used by the various stakeholders in the building industry; namely the building materials producers, builders, designers and governments to improve energy efficiency in buildings. It also shows that for the strategies to work, they must be part of a building materials policy for the country in order to achieve an industry wide implementation of the measures, so as to move the country towards sustainable construction by utilising energy efficient building materials.
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