Abstract
This work calculates and discusses the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of four scenarios composed of two types of road pavements and two types of lighting systems to be built in an Italian twin-tube road tunnel. A 20-year time horizon is adopted to assess the burdens of construction and maintenance of both flexible and rigid pavements and high-pressure sodium (HPS) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, traffic, and switching on of lamps. All considered scenarios are comparable with each other in terms of technical performances, but significantly differ regarding their environmental consequences. The geometrical and technical characteristics of the examined scenarios comply with current Italian standards for highways. In all the examined cases, LCA is carried out according to the European standard, EN 15804, and includes 19 impact categories (IC). The analysis demonstrates that the use of more reflecting surface pavement materials (i.e., concrete vs. asphalt) and more performing lighting systems (i.e., LED vs. HPS) can effectively mitigate the deleterious burdens related to road construction, maintenance, and use. For most of the examined ICs, the most environment-friendly scenario has LED lamps and concrete pavement.
Highlights
The energy efficiency of public lighting installations has become an important area of focus in the last years [1]
This paper presents the environmental performances of two types of road pavements and two types of lighting systems (i.e., high-pressure sodium (HPS) and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps) to be built in a 750 m-long twin-tube tunnel, which belongs to an Italian highway
Data collected in the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) were modelled according to the EN 15804 standard for construction materials [30] and the PCR 2013, part B for luminaires, lamps, and components for luminaires [41] to assess the environmental burdens of the examined solutions
Summary
The energy efficiency of public lighting installations has become an important area of focus in the last years [1]. Public administrations and lighting designers are making efforts to design and adopt the best solutions to produce an efficient luminance and save energy [2]. Tunnels are the most energy demanding of the whole asset because of the need of the prescribed equipment in tunnels. It is necessary to provide adequate lighting, signing, and ventilation for drivers; to maintain drainage systems; and to deal with emergencies. The largest energy requirements are associated with providing lighting. Lighting costs represent up to 25% of the total budget for management of the road network [3,4]
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