A Case Study of Implementing Life Cycle Cost Analysis in Sustainability Assessment

The newly developed alkali-activated binders are known to have an emerging potential in developing and improving the idea of greenhouse building according to sustainability requirements. These new binders are based on the principle of using ashes from mining and quarrying wastes as raw materials which can be used in the remediation process of toxic and radioactive wastes. A modern application for the alkali-activated binder has been developed, such as using hybrid cement, which is formed by mixing the alkali-activated binder with ordinary Portland cement. The other one is using alkali-activated binder blocks. It can be stated that these binders are a reasonable option for green construction only if the process used to manufacture them does not cause negative impacts on the environment, human health, or depletion of resources. One of the most important sustainability parameters is the life cycle cost assessment, which describes the material life from the extraction of raw materials to the demolition stage of the building. Accordingly, this paper provides a life cycle cost assessment for the alkali-activated binders in order to evaluate their sustainability performance, especially the CO2 emission.