An integrated assessment of the environmental, human health, and economic impacts based on life cycle assessment: A case study of the concrete and steel sumps

The sustainable building materials and construction methods have been recently highlighted to reduce the environmental and human health impacts. The steel sump is regarded as a suitable alternative to the concrete sump as it has a lower economic impact, but further research on its environmental and human health impacts has yet to be conducted. Thus, this study conducted an integrated assessment of the environmental, human health, and economic impacts of the concrete and steel sumps using life cycle assessment. When the environmental, human health, and economic impacts are considered at the same time, the installation scenarios of the steel sump were superior to those of the concrete sump by 11.35–152.24%. Especially, SS-3 (i.e., installation scenarios #3 of steel sump) has 93.04 and 89.18% lower environmental and human health impacts, respectively, as well as an 81.47% lower construction cost compared to CS-3 (i.e., installation scenarios #3 of concrete sump). This is because the differences in the building material and the practical construction method used determine the environmental, human health, and economic impacts of the sump. The results will help designers or construction managers determine the installation scenario of the sump by considering its environmental, human health, and economic impacts.