OPEN ACCESS
The need for climate change mitigation calls for significant actions to match the sustainable development goals and, in this context, road construction and management play a relevant role (cf. EU Green Public Procurement Criteria for Road Design, Construction and Maintenance and Environmental Product Declarations - EPD).
In such a context, the role of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is broadly recognized as a tool to quantify sustainability of processes and systems.
This study aims at calculating the life-cycle energy and carbon footprint of a typical Italian urban road, including materials production, transportation, construction, maintenance, and rehabilitation.
The LCA approach is applied according to the ISO 14040 regulations series. Authors assess the life cycle energy and carbon footprint of several alternative scenarios based on mixture type and reuse/recycle of waste materials as well as developing dominance analyses.
The main contribution of this study is to provide a systemic approach for energy and carbon footprint assessment for the sake of all stakeholders, in order to support the development of new models of low-energy consumption and innovative production models.
life Cycle Assessment (LCA), eco-design, life-cycle energy, road design
[1] Zapata P, Gambatese JA. (2005). Energy consumption of asphalt and reinforced concrete pavement materials and construction. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 11(1): 9–20. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0342(2005)11:1(9)
[2] Birgisdóttir H, Pihl KAA, Bhander G, Hauschild MZZ, Christensen THH. (2006). Environmental assessment of roads constructed with and without bottom ash from municipal solid waste incineration. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 11(5): 358–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2006.07.001
[3] Cardinale T, Sposato C, Feo A, Fazio D. (2018). Clay and fibers: Energy efficiency in buildings between tradition and innovation. Mathematical Modelling of Engineering Problems 5(3): 183–9. https://doi.org/10.18280/mmep.050308
[4] European Asphalt Pavement Association, National Asphalt Pavement Association. (2011). The Asphalt Paving Industry A Global Perspective - 2nd edition.
[5] Beccali M, Cellura M, Fontana M, Longo S, Mistretta M., (2013). Energy retrofit of a single-family house: Life cycle net energy saving and environmental benefits. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 27: 283–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.040
[6] Gulotta TM, Guarino F, Mistretta M, Cellura M, Lorenzini G. (2018). Introducing exergy analysis in life cycle assessment: A case study. Mathematical Modelling of Engineering Problems 5(3): 139–45. https://doi.org/10.18280/mmep.050302
[7] UNI EN ISO 14040: 2006. (2006). Environmental Management-Life Cycle Assessment - Principles and Framework.
[8] EPD. (2018). EPD Environmental Product Declaration. Environmental Product Declaration.
[9] International Organization for Standardization. (2011). UNI EN 15978:2011 - Sustainability of construction works - Assessment of environmental performance of buildings - Calculation method. Sustainability of Construction Works - Assessment of Environmental Performance of Buildings - Calculation Method (November).
[10] Wernet G, Bauer C, Steubing B, Reinhard J, Moreno-Ruiz E, Weidema B. (2016). The ecoinvent database version 3 (part I): overview and methodology. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 21(9): 1218–30. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1087-8
[11] European Council. (2009). Directive 2009/125/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-related products (recast). Official Journal of the European Union 10–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirp.2012.03.121
[12] Bonicelli A, Calvi P, Martinez-Arguelles G, Fuentes L, Giustozzi F. (2017). Experimental study on the use of rejuvenators and plastomeric polymers for improving durability of high RAP content asphalt mixtures. Construction and Building Materials 155: 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.08.013
[13] Pradyumna TA, Mittal A, Jain PK. (2013). Characterization of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) for use in bituminous road construction. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 104: 1149–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.11.211
[14] Praticò FG, Vaiana R, Giunta M. (2013). Pavement sustainability: Permeable wearing courses by recycling porous European mixes. Journal of Architectural Engineering 19(3): 186–92. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)AE.1943-5568.0000127
[15] Blomberg T, Bernard F, Southern M. (2012). Life cycle inventory: Bitumen.
[16] Santagata E, Zanetti MC. (2012). The use of products from end-of-life tyres in road pavements. ECOPNEUS, Milan, Italy (in Italian).
[17] Farina A, Zanetti MC, Santagata E, Blengini GA. (2017). Life cycle assessment applied to bituminous mixtures containing recycled materials: Crumb rubber and reclaimed asphalt pavement. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 117: 204–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.10.015
[18] Giani MI, Dotelli G, Brandini N, Zampori L. (2015). Comparative life cycle assessment of asphalt pavements using reclaimed asphalt, warm mix technology and cold in-place recycling. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 104: 224–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2015.08.006
[19] Miliutenko S, Björklund A, Carlsson A. (2013). Opportunities for environmentally improved asphalt recycling: The example of Sweden. Journal of Cleaner Production 43: 156–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.12.040