New research paves way for greener construction practices
Daniel Donado-Quintero
Researchers in CU Boulder’sDepartment of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering have developed a more accurate way to measure and set guidelines for the carbon impact of asphalt in public road projects.
The method was recently detailed in the, in a paper led by Daniel Donado- Quintero, a CEAE PhD student.
Teaching ProfessorChris Senseney, one of the paper’s authors, said thatby setting benchmarks, agencies can encourage asphalt producers to reduce their embodied carbon emissions, for example by using more recycled materials or optimizing production processes. The study supports Colorado’s Buy Clean Act, which focuses on reducing embodied carbon emissions within the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT).
“The research will lead to more sustainable construction practices,” Senseney said. “The benchmarking process that we present in the paper is a first of its kind, and is already being used by CDOT. Other states plan to use our process within their highway agencies, too.”
Embodied carbon emissions are greenhouse gas emissions that come from extracting, making and transporting building materials, activities that happen before the material is installed.
The Buy Clean Colorado Act requires CDOT to set benchmarks on the global warming potential (GWP) of certain building materials and to promote the use of lower carbon materials. GWP is a measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide. It’s used to understand and compare the climate impact of different materials.
Associate Teaching Professor Christopher Senseney
The CU Boulder study outlines a practical approach to setting GWP benchmarks for asphalt pavement used in road construction. The researchers developed a better way to evaluate different types of asphalt mixtures based on how they’re made and where they’re used.They also examined how much of each type of asphalt is used in real projects, to help set more accurate and realistic carbon emission limits.
”CDOT provided us with extensive data to analyze and offered us valuable insights,” Quintero said. “We extend our sincere thanks to CDOT for their support and for their ongoing commitment to delivering more sustainable public infrastructure.”