Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on Road Infrastructure Projects: a Systematic Mapping Study

Abstract

LCA has been utilized over the past two decades to estimate the environmental impacts of pavement in infrastructures. The purpose of this study is to systematically map research on the use of LCA to calculate energy and emissions in road infrastructure projects. The research method is carried out by a literature review, in terms of systematic mapping study of a number of previous scientific publications, in the form of documents that have been published in international and national journals and proceedings, etc., in the last thirty years. The results show that: The topic of LCA is still an interesting area of research, and the trend from year to year shows an increase in the publication of articles in reputable journals. As much as 57.8% research, using the process based calculation method. Only 15.6% of research calculated energy and emissions in the four completed stages of the project life cycle. As much as 37.5% research compared the flexible and rigid pavement as research objects. There is a chance to research the development of the energy optimization model for road infrastructure projects using cradle to cradle system boundary, from initiation to the end of life as a whole project life cycle.