6kologische und \uf6konomische Bewertung von Schweizer Nationalstrassen

In einer 6kobilanz- und Lebenszykluskosten-Studie am Lehrstuhl f\ufcr Nachhaltiges Bauen der ETH Z\ufcrich wurden typische Oberbautypen (Asphalt-, Beton- und Composite Oberbauten) anwendbar f\ufcr Nationalstra fen (Autobahnen) in der Schweiz hinsichtlich ausgew\ue4hlter Umweltwirkungen(Treibhauspotenzial, nicht erneuerbarer kumulierter Energieaufwand, \uf6kologische Knappheit – Umweltbelastungspunkte) und ihrer Lebenszykluskosten untersucht. Die Analyse fokussierte dabei auf die quantitative Bewertung von Neubau- und Erhaltungsma fnahmen \ufcber 75 Jahre. Prozesse der Stra fennutzung (Kraftstoffverbrauch, L\ue4rm etc) wurden aus zeitlichen Gr\ufcnden nur qualitativ bewertet. In der Schweiz wurden in den letzten zwei Jahrzenten zum gr\uf6 ften Teil Nationalstra fen (Autobahnen) mit Asphaltoberbauten ausgef\ufchrt. Die Ergebnisse der \uf6kologischen und \uf6konomischen Bewertung der verschiedenen Oberbautypen zeigen, dass vor allem Betonoberbauten bei Nationalstra fenmit starker Schwerverkehrsbelastung \ufcber einen l\ue4ngeren Zeitraum \uf6kologische und \uf6konomische Potenziale aufweisen und deshalb als Alternative zu Asphaltoberbauten in Betrachtbezogen werden m\ufcssten

Environmental analysis of new construction and maintenance processesof road pavements in Switzerland

The subject of this paper is an environmental analysis of processes needed to construct (material production,pavement construction, transport) and maintain (pavement deconstruction, recycling, material production,pavement construction, transport) representative Swiss asphalt, concrete and composite pavements (includingsubbase layers). The analysed environmental indicators are the IPCC Global Warming Potential indicator, theEcological Scarcity Indicator and the Non-renewable Cumulative Energy Demand indicator. It is shown thatmaterial production processes have the largest impact on the values of the analysed indicators, and that pavementconstruction and deconstruction processes have a marginal impact on the analysed indicators in comparison tomaterial production, transport and recycling processes. It is also demonstrated that the values of the IPCC GlobalWarming Potential indicator and the Ecological Scarcity indicator for the processes needed to construct andmaintain concrete and composite pavements are higher than those for all processes required to construct andmaintain asphalt pavements, due to the greater thickness of concrete and composite pavements. The values of theNon-Renewable Cumulative Energy Demand indicator are higher for processes applied to construct and maintainasphalt pavements than for concrete pavements, due to the use of bitumen within asphalt pavements, which causes adepletion of fossil energy resources

Life-Cycle Assessment of the Production of Swiss Road Materials

Sustainable development demands contributions across all economic sectors. Thus, the infrastructure field, in this case road infrastructure, also has to contribute its part by generating road materials and road construction with lower environmental impacts. This paper analyzes the environmental potentials hidden in road materials used in Swiss road pavements. For several materials used in road construction, cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessments (LCA) were performed, taking into account all environmental impacts from raw material extraction to the finished product at the production plant. Environmental improvement potentials were analyzed for the production of asphalt mixtures, concrete mixtures, and subbase mixtures, using eight different environmental impact indicators. The results show differences in the environmental impact between best case and current status production setup of up to 54% for asphalt mixtures, 38% for concrete mixtures, and 93% for subbase mixtures

Environmental product declarations entering the building sector: critical reflections based on 5 to 10 years experience in different European countries

Purpose Growing awareness of the environmental performanceof construction products and buildings brings aboutthe need for a suitable method to assess their environmentalperformance. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has become awidely recognised and accepted method to assess the burdensand impacts throughout the life cycle. This LCA-based information may be in the form of environmental product declarations (EPD) or product environmental footprints (PEF), based on reliable and verifiable information. All of these use LCA to quantify and report several environmental impact categorie and may also provide additional information. To better understand on the one hand existing EPD programmes (EN 15804) for each country and on the other the recent developments in terms of EU reference document (e.g. PEF), the authors decided to write this review paper based on the outcomes of the EPD workshop that was held prior to SB13 Graz conference.Methods This paper presents the state of the art in LCA and an overview of the EPD programmes in five European countries(Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland) based on the workshop in the first part and a comprehensive description and comparison of the PEF method and EN 15804 in the second part. In the last part, a general conclusion will wrap up the findings and results will provide a further outlook on future activities.Results and discussion The high number of EPD programmesunderlines the fact that there is obviously a demand for assessments of the environmental performance of construction materials.In the comparison between and experiences of thedifferent countries, it can be seen that more similarities than differences exist. A comparison between PEF and EPD shows differences, e.g. LCIA impact categories and recyclingmethodology. Conclusions Independent of raising awareness of the construction material environmental performance, the existence of somany environmental claims calls for clarification andharmonisation. Additionally, construction materials beingassessed in the voluntary approaches have to follow theharmonised approach following the principles of the EuropeanConstruction Products Regulation (regulated) not to foster barriers of trade. The authors therefore highly appreciate the most recent activities of the sustainability of construction works (CEN/TC 350 committee http://portailgroupe.afnor.fr/public_espacenormalisation/CENTC350/index.html) currently workingon these issues at the EU level. Finally, the LCA community is further encouraged to increase the background life cycleinventory data and life cycle inventory modelling as well as the meaningfulness of certain environmental impact categories, such as toxicity, land use, biodiversity and resource usage