Life-cycle assessment environmental sustainability in bridge design and maintenance

Balogun, TB; Tomor, A; Lamond, J; Gouda, H; Booth, CA

Abstract

Interviews were undertaken with expert bridge designers to reveal their opinions on environmental considerations and the possibility of integrating life-cycle assessment into the bridge design process. Bridge designers were generally found to consider the need for the bridge, access for future maintenance, use of quality materials, longevity, cost savings and sustainability matter more important than life-cycle environmental emissions. Moreover, the limited awareness of life-cycle assessments among bridge designers along with a keenness to execute clients’ requirements, mostly on the basis of cost, further widened the gap. This gap could be overcome by: ensuring that detailed environmental matters such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions are considered as design criteria; encouraging designers to highlight emerging environmental matters in the design brief; heightening awareness of life-cycle assessment among designers to increase its potential usage; and factoring life-cycle assessment damage indicators into the bridge design process.

Citation

Balogun, T., Tomor, A., Lamond, J., Gouda, H., & Booth, C. (2020). Life-cycle assessment environmental sustainability in bridge design and maintenance. Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability, 173(7), 365-375. https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.19.00042

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 14, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Feb 14, 2020
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Deposit Date: Mar 2, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 14, 2021
• Journal: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) : Engineering Sustainability
• Print ISSN: 1478-4629
• Electronic ISSN: 1751-7680
• Publisher: Thomas Telford
• Volume: 173
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 365-375
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.19.00042
• Keywords: Civil and Structural Engineering
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.19.00042
• Related Public URLs: https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/journal/jensu
• Additional Information: Additional Information : ** From Crossref via Jisc Publications Router **Journal IDs: pissn 1478-4629; eissn 1751-7680 **History: issued 14-02-2020; published_online 14-02-2020