Towards a Comparative Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of Bamboo and Concrete Construction for Sustainable Urban Development in Ghana

Abstract

The construction industry accounts for a substantial share of global greenhouse gas emissions, underscoring the need to explore sustainable building technologies. Bamboo is a rapidly growing renewable resource used in various building contexts, including structural and non-structural purposes, with properties equivalent to those of other conventional building materials. The objective of this research was to compare the environmental life cycle assessment impact of bio-based bamboo floor construction with that of conventional concrete floors using a cradle-to-grave and EoL of 60 years for both materials. Comparing the data extracted from the analysis of a square metre of floor system using bio-based construction materials, the LCIA, using the database Simapro 9.5, revealed that bio-based alternatives generally have lower environmental impacts compared to conventional materials. The study establishes that whereas the global warming potential carbon (GWPC) per square metre of concrete floor recorded a mid-point result of 160 kg CO2-eq, that for bamboo was 12 kg CO2-eq, with bamboo exhibiting additional carbon sequestration during the growth period. The mid-point result for the acidification potential was 0.68 kg SO2-eq and 0.12 kg SO2-eq for concrete and bamboo, respectively, with bamboo showing an 82% improvement over concrete. Again, the eutrophication potential revealed that bamboo showed a 78% improvement over concrete. When analysed within the context of rapidly urbanising regions like Ghana, these LCIA findings provide a strong empirical justification for substituting traditional grey building materials with bio-based structural composites. Concrete and steel remain highly exposed to supply chain energy premiums, given the high energy demands during the clinker and steel production phases. Transitioning urban building models to structurally engineered bamboo could successfully mitigate localised urban heat retention and lower municipal scope 3 emissions.