| 1. |
- Gschösser, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental analysis of new construction and maintenance processesof road pavements in Switzerland
- 2012
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Ingår i: Structure and Infrastructure Engineering. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1573-2479 .- 1744-8980. ; 10:1, s. 1-24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 2. |
- Gschösser, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Hidden Ecological Potentials in the Production of Materials for Swiss Road Pavements
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Management in Engineering - ASCE. - 0742-597X. ; 27:1, s. 13-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainability has become a major concern in the field of civil infrastructures in recent years. Developing road construction projects with lower ecological impacts over a project’s entire life cycle can help in making road infrastructure contribute to sustainable development. This study focuses on the ecological potentials in the production of road materials used in Swiss road pavements. The environmental assessment was performed using a cradle-to-gate life-cycle assessment (LCA) approach in which all processes from the raw material extraction to the finished product were considered. The comparison of the results of the best-case asphalt pavement and the standard asphalt pavement for Swiss highway construction shows ecological potentials of up to 55%. Use of the best-case concrete pavement lowers the environmental impact by up to 53% in comparison to the worst-case concrete pavement for Swiss highways. Concerning composite pavements, the best-case variant offers an ecological potential 38% higher than the standard pavement.
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| 3. |
- Gschösser, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Life Cycle Assessment of Representative Swiss Road Pavements for National Roads with an Accompanying Life Cycle Cost Analysis
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Science & Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 47:15, s. 8453-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The subject of this paper is an environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) of processes needed to construct and maintain representative Swiss asphalt, concrete and composite pavements (including subbase layers) applicable for the Swiss national road network over a period of 75 years. The environmental indicators analyzed are the Global Warming Potential indicator, the non-renewable Cumulative Energy Demand and the Swiss Ecological Scarcity indicator. Processes of the use phase of the road (fuel consumption, noise, etc.) have been evaluated qualitatively based on intensive research. The study shows that the Global Warming Potential of concrete and asphalt pavements equilibrates over the analysis period and that concrete pavements compared to asphalt and composite pavements offer advantages in regards to the non-renewable Cumulative Energy Demand, the Ecological Scarcity Indicator and Life Cycle Costs. The qualitative evaluation of the processes of the use phase shows for example the positive qualities of concrete pavements regarding fuel consumption and permanent noise properties.
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| 4. |
- Gschösser, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Life-Cycle Assessment of the Production of Swiss Road Materials
- 2012
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering. - 1943-5533 .- 0899-1561. ; 23:2, s. 168-176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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| 5. |
- Gschösser, Florian, et al.
(författare)
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Ökologische und ökonomische Bewertung von Schweizer Nationalstrassen
- 2014
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Ingår i: bauaktuell. - 2077-4737. ; 5:3, s. 86-94
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In einer Ökobilanz- und Lebenszykluskosten-Studie am Lehrstuhl für Nachhaltiges Bauen der ETH Zürich wurden typische Oberbautypen (Asphalt-, Beton- und Composite Oberbauten) anwendbar für Nationalstraßen (Autobahnen) in der Schweiz hinsichtlich ausgewählter Umweltwirkungen(Treibhauspotenzial, nicht erneuerbarer kumulierter Energieaufwand, ökologische Knappheit – Umweltbelastungspunkte) und ihrer Lebenszykluskosten untersucht. Die Analyse fokussierte dabei auf die quantitative Bewertung von Neubau- und Erhaltungsmaßnahmen über 75 Jahre. Prozesse der Straßennutzung (Kraftstoffverbrauch, Lärm etc) wurden aus zeitlichen Gründen nur qualitativ bewertet. In der Schweiz wurden in den letzten zwei Jahrzenten zum größten Teil Nationalstraßen (Autobahnen) mit Asphaltoberbauten ausgeführt. Die Ergebnisse der ökologischen und ökonomischen Bewertung der verschiedenen Oberbautypen zeigen, dass vor allem Betonoberbauten bei Nationalstraßenmit starker Schwerverkehrsbelastung über einen längeren Zeitraum ökologische und ökonomische Potenziale aufweisen und deshalb als Alternative zu Asphaltoberbauten in Betrachtbezogen werden müssten.
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| 6. |
- Passer, Alexander, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental product declarations entering the building sector: critical reflections based on 5 to 10 years experience in different European countries
- 2015
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 20:9, s. 1199-1212
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- 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.
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