Impacts

The economic benefits for prestressed/precast concrete begin with requiring fewer personnel due automation taking up two-thirds of the labor work, only requiring one-third to produce precast concrete elements. It requires less coordination on site due to less monitoring when assembling the precast elements requiring less communication between companies. Precast concrete is more durable than other types of concrete due to having a maintenance period of at least 50 years leading to lesser repair costs. The disadvantages for this type of concrete are the cost of materials are higher when the concrete beam requires high tensile steel. The use of prestressing equipment and the installation of steel strands cause a higher initial cost than other concrete setups and transportation costs are higher when working with prestressed concrete.

The environmental benefits show that precast concrete is a sustainable product that is proved to be environmentally friendly, producing less carbon in its manufacture of cement, reabsorbing up to 40 percent of carbon in its lifetime. When the concrete cures within the casting bed, it captures carbon dioxide and prevents it from emitting out of the concrete. Prestressed concrete produces little waste during production due to all materials being precisely used with no excess of materials being placed in the concrete mix. Precast concrete’s high thermal mass improves the indoor air quality of a building due to not needing any artificial heating or cooling, leading to no chemicals or fumes being emitted. The environmental downside of using prestressed concrete is during the beam delivery process, transport vehicles release CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. The manufacturing of cement creates CO2 emissions and cannot be prevented due to the importance of concrete as a building material.

The societal advantage of precast concrete is that its elements are fireproof, preventing the risk of citizens getting trapped in a building fire that uses concrete. In areas that are at risk of getting eaten by termites, concrete houses prevent the risk of termites potentially ruining houses owned by citizens. This prevents people from having to pay for structural repairs for their house. The societal concerns for prestressed concrete. The societal concern from prestressed concrete is that from the use of power tools, it leads to a risk of injury. This is because safety regulations were not taken seriously and by not wearing protective equipment. Concrete that is design or made poorly in any structure such as a bridge or a building will cause it to fail earlier than expected, causing a structural disaster that can cause harm or death to any citizen using that structure. Overall, precast/prestressed concrete is the future of today’s societal infrastructure, reducing the overuse of the world’s natural resources in which the materials are derived from.