Estimation of environmental load of geotechnical structure using multiple regression analysis

Abstract

With the increased global interest in greenhouse gas reduction, many countries around the world have been making a range of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Ministry of Environment suggested a goal of 37% reduction relative to the expected greenhouse gas ‘business as usual’ (BAU) for all industries; thus, greenhouse gas reduction in the construction industry is also inevitable. To reduce greenhouse gas, the effects of a construction project on the environment need to be minimized, and an integrated evaluation that involves various kinds of environmental pollution (e.g., resource usage, water, air, and soil) as well as greenhouse gas is required. Therefore, in this study, for a reasonable and objectively valid evaluation of the environment-friendliness of a tunnel facility (a geotechnical structure), a life cycle assessment was performed based on existing cases following the ISO 14040 series standard. The purpose of this study is to suggest an environmental load evaluation technique that statistically analyzes the effects of work processes, input materials, and energy sources during tunnel work by suggesting the estimation equation for 8 impact categories that affect environmental load.