Abstract Manager

Decarbonizing transportation infrastructure can only occur if the sources of ‘business-as-usual’ greenhouse gas emissions are understood. Operational GHG emissions are well studied, however, embodied carbon emissions have often not had the same attention. This is starting to change. The embodied carbon of construction materials and processes (such as concrete, steel and fuel) is a substantial contributor to transportation infrastructure emissions. As vehicles switch to electric and electricity generators switch to lower-carbon options, the operational carbon emissions of transportation infrastructure will reduce. This makes it even more important to increase the focus on understanding and reducing embodied carbon.

If project teams know which components of a project have the highest carbon impact, they can put additional focus on those areas to explore alternatives. Therefore, the starting point has to be to calculate carbon. Carbon assessments at early design phases can enable optioneering assessments to consider carbon alongside other client priorities like cost, schedule, and community and environmental impacts. This presentation will provide case studies from underground transportation infrastructure projects where carbon assessments were conducted to compare design options and/or help identify carbon hotspots. 

The presentation will conclude with opportunities for embodied carbon reduction at different stages of the design process.