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Abstract
Due to its dynamic nature in construction, benchmarking environmental emissions of road construction projects can be a daunting task. Often stakeholders will have to prioritize the economic and environmental indicators based on the project objectives. The study presents a methodological framework to compare economic and environmental impacts to benchmark sustainable transport construction projects. Through findings, the study aims to inform focus areas and key stages of infrastructure projects to benchmark sustainable performance. Process-based emission and cost estimation models are presented with an AHP based weighting factor that enables prioritization of emissions and costs based on project scopes and objectives. Using a case study, results are represented to validate the framework and methodology. Concrete and steel are identified as the main materials that contribute to total carbon emissions, while soil and gravel are responsible for the highest costs. Electricity consumption is discovered as the major fuel type contributing to carbon emissions. Concrete and dump trucks are discovered as the top two sources of emissions and costs, respectively. Scenario analyses revealed that the choice of equipment significantly affects the project’s emissions and costs. The application of sustainable materials can significantly reduce emissions and cost. The use of the case study approach results in a lack of generalizability. However, the same methodology and process can be adopted for the sustainable benchmarking of different projects. Researchers are encouraged to investigate processes to automate sustainable benchmarking of transport infrastructure construction projects. The study is one of the first attempts to compare cost and environmental impacts using a systematic methodology of transportation infrastructure construction projects.
Highlights
With the introduction of smart technologies and smart cities concepts, there is rapid development across the globe in several industries, including building, manufacturing and production and information technology
greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) emissions and costs associated with materials, construction equipment, transport vehicles are considered for the current case study
Embodied carbon emissions from materials can be estimated in tonsCO2 -eq based on the following equation, where em,i is the carbon embodied emission factor for the ith material in kgCO2 -eq/kg, Qm,i is the quantity of the ith material in kg and wm,i is the waste factor considering the waste generation during production, transportation and construction
Summary
With the introduction of smart technologies and smart cities concepts, there is rapid development across the globe in several industries, including building, manufacturing and production and information technology. A handful of studies have emphasised that the preliminary designs, procurement and construction methods significantly influence the total economic and environmental benefits of a project life cycle [27,28,29,30,31]. In the case of stakeholders in rapidly developing countries, an optimised design plan with maximum environmental benefits would provide cutting-edge opportunities without exceeding the budget limits Such a decision-making framework at the initial decision-making stages would highly influence the sustainable outcome of the transportation infrastructure design. The current study aims to develop a detailed methodological framework that can inform the decision makers to optimize the cost and carbon emission savings from the construction stage of a transportation infrastructure project. Scenario analysis is conducted to investigate the effect of various variables on the total economic and environmental impact
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