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    The importance of the use phase on the LCA of environmentally friendly solutions for asphalt road pavements

    TitleThe importance of the use phase on the LCA of environmentally friendly solutions for asphalt road pavements
    Publication TypePapers in International Journals
    Year of Publication2014
    AuthorsAraújo J. P., Oliveira J. R. M., and Silva H. M. R. D.
    Abstract

    In order to assess sustainability of products and processes, different methodologies have been developed and used in the last years. In the road pavement construction area, most methodologies used for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) are essentially focused in the construction phase. The present paper analyses the importance of the use phase of a road in the LCA of different paving alternatives, namely by evaluating energy consumption and gaseous emissions throughout the road pavement's life. Therefore, a new LCA methodology for road pavements was developed, and the results of its application to a case study involving the construction of alternative pavement structures are discussed. The study intends to assess the influence of using more sustainable paving construction alternatives (asphalt recycling vs. conventional asphalt mixtures), and/or different surface course materials (which have a higher influence on the rolling resistance and, therefore, affect the performance during the use phase). The LCA results obtained for this case study showed that the reductions in energy consumption and gaseous emissions obtained during the use phase, for pavement alternatives with a lower rolling resistance surface course, are higher than the total amount of energy consumption and gas emissions produced during construction. It is therefore clear that some improvements in the characteristics of the surface course may have an effect over the road use phase that will rapidly balance the initial costs and gas emissions of those interventions. The LCA results obtained also showed that the sustainability of pavement construction may also be improved using recycled asphalt mixtures.

    JournalTransportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
    Volume32
    Pagination97 - 110
    Date Published2014-10-01
    PublisherElsevier Ltd
    ISSN1361-9209
    DOI10.1016/j.trd.2014.07.006
    KeywordsEnergy consumption, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Road pavements, Rolling resistance, Use phase
    Citation

    Araújo JPC, Oliveira JRM, Silva HMRD (2014) The importance of the use phase on the LCA of environmentally friendly solutions for asphalt road pavements. Transp Res Part D Transp Environ 32:97-110. 

    RightsopenAccess
    Peer reviewedyes
    Statuspublished
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    About CTAC

    The Centre for Territory, Environment and Construction (CTAC) is a research unit of the School of Engineering of University of Minho (UMinho), recognised by the “FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia” (Foundation for Science and Technology), associated to the Department of Civil Engineering (DEC), with whom it shares resources and namely human resources.

    Currently CTAC aggregates 25 researchers holding a PhD of which 20 are faculty professors of the Civil Engineering Department. Read more


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