Process map of carbon emission sources for stainless steel construction products

Abstract

The building sector plays an indispensable role in the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as buildings are emission-intensive to construct and operate. The GHG or carbon embodied in building materials share as much as 30% of a building’s life cycle emissions. A careful selection of building materials with low environmental impact would thus substantially lower the GHG emissions of buildings. In pursuit of low-carbon buildings, the emission figures of building materials used should be disclosed to relevant stakeholders. Until now there are many GHG emissions gauging tools available, which include the building environment assessment tools, product carbon inventories, life cycle analysis tools, etc. Nonetheless, uncertain assessment results, costly database and tedious training to master those emission assessment tools lower their popularity amongst the material manufacturer and supplier communities. The problem is aggravated when the emissions sources and principle of calculations behind these tools are not clearly revealed to users. The aim of this study is to develop a process map of the embodied carbon emissions sources for an emission-intensive building material, i.e. stainless steel, by revealing its manufacturing processes and supply chain. The process map developed in this study not only allows users to gain a clear insight of the embodied emission sources of stainless steel products but should also serve to identify potential opportunities for emission reduction.