IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v13y2016i3p351-d66241.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Asphalt Pavement Construction: A Case Study in China

Author

Listed:
  • Feng Ma

    (Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

  • Aimin Sha

    (Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

  • Ruiyu Lin

    (Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

  • Yue Huang

    (School of Civil Engineering, Liverpool John Moores University, Peter Jost Enterprise Centre, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK)

  • Chao Wang

    (Key Laboratory Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education , Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China)

Abstract

In China, the construction of asphalt pavement has a significant impact on the environment, and energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from asphalt pavement construction have been receiving increasing attention in recent years. At present, there is no universal criterion for the evaluation of GHG emissions in asphalt pavement construction. This paper proposes to define the system boundaries for GHG emissions from asphalt pavement by using a process-based life cycle assessment method. A method for evaluating GHG emissions from asphalt pavement construction is suggested. The paper reports a case study of GHG emissions from a typical asphalt pavement construction project in China. The results show that the greenhouse gas emissions from the mixture mixing phase are the highest, and account for about 54% of the total amount. The second highest GHG emission phase is the production of raw materials. For GHG emissions of cement stabilized base/subbase, the production of raw materials emits the most, about 98%. The GHG emission for cement production alone is about 92%. The results indicate that any measures to reduce GHG emissions from asphalt pavement construction should be focused on the raw materials manufacturing stage. If the raw materials production phase is excluded, the measures to reduce GHG emissions should be aimed at the mixture mixing phase.

Suggested Citation

  • Feng Ma & Aimin Sha & Ruiyu Lin & Yue Huang & Chao Wang, 2016. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Asphalt Pavement Construction: A Case Study in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:3:p:351-:d:66241
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/351/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/3/351/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kay, Andrew I. & Noland, Robert B. & Rodier, Caroline J., 2014. "Achieving reductions in greenhouse gases in the US road transportation sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 536-545.
    2. Huang, Yue & Bird, Roger N. & Heidrich, Oliver, 2007. "A review of the use of recycled solid waste materials in asphalt pavements," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 58-73.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kiran Sapkota & Ehsan Yaghoubi & P. L. P. Wasantha & Rudi Van Staden & Sam Fragomeni, 2023. "Mechanical Characteristics and Durability of HMA Made of Recycled Aggregates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-19, March.
    2. Mohamed Ezzat Al-Atroush & Jumana Almushcab & Duha Alhudaif & Yosra Meskinyar, 2023. "Exploring the Potential of 3D Printing Technology for Sustainable Plastic Roads: A Preliminary Investigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-24, December.
    3. Feng Ma & Aimin Sha & Panpan Yang & Yue Huang, 2016. "The Greenhouse Gas Emission from Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Construction in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-12, June.
    4. Fuyi Yao & Guiwen Liu & Yingbo Ji & Wenjing Tong & Xiaoyun Du & Kaijian Li & Asheem Shrestha & Igor Martek, 2020. "Evaluating the Environmental Impact of Construction within the Industrialized Building Process: A Monetization and Building Information Modelling Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-22, November.
    5. Diego Flores-Ruiz & Marco Montoya-Alcaraz & Leonel García & Manuel Gutiérrez & Julio Calderón-Ramírez, 2025. "Mitigation Strategies Based on Life Cycle Assessment for Carbon Dioxide Reduction in Asphalt Pavements: Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-24, January.
    6. Fang, Zigeng & Yan, Jiayi & Lu, Qiuchen & Chen, Long & Yang, Pu & Tang, Junqing & Jiang, Feng & Broyd, Tim & Hong, Jingke, 2023. "A systematic literature review of carbon footprint decision-making approaches for infrastructure and building projects," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    7. Abdalrhman Milad & Ali Mohammed Babalghaith & Abdulnaser M. Al-Sabaeei & Anmar Dulaimi & Abdualmtalab Ali & Sajjala Sreedhar Reddy & Munder Bilema & Nur Izzi Md Yusoff, 2022. "A Comparative Review of Hot and Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies from Environmental and Economic Perspectives: Towards a Sustainable Asphalt Pavement," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-23, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schmitz Gonçalves, Daniel Neves & Goes, George Vasconcelos & de Almeida D'Agosto, Márcio & Albergaria de Mello Bandeira, Renata, 2019. "Energy use and emissions scenarios for transport to gauge progress toward national commitments," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    2. Rith, Monorom & Fillone, Alexis M. & Biona, Jose Bienvenido Manuel M., 2020. "Energy and environmental benefits and policy implications for private passenger vehicles in an emerging metropolis of Southeast Asia – A case study of Metro Manila," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    3. Yang, Christopher & Yeh, Sonia & Zakerinia, Saleh & Ramea, Kalai & McCollum, David, 2015. "Achieving California's 80% greenhouse gas reduction target in 2050: Technology, policy and scenario analysis using CA-TIMES energy economic systems model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 118-130.
    4. Kylili, Angeliki & Ilic, Milos & Fokaides, Paris A., 2017. "Whole-building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a passive house of the sub-tropical climatic zone," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 169-177.
    5. Sher Jahan Khan & Saeed Badghish & Puneet Kaur & Rajat Sharma & Amandeep Dhir, 2023. "What motivates the purchasing of green apparel products? A systematic review and future research agenda," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4183-4201, November.
    6. Oh, Yunjung & Park, Junhong & Lee, Jong Tae & Seo, Jigu & Park, Sungwook, 2016. "Development strategies to satisfy corporate average CO2 emission regulations of light duty vehicles (LDVs) in Korea," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 121-132.
    7. Skaf, Marta & Manso, Juan M. & Aragón, Ángel & Fuente-Alonso, José A. & Ortega-López, Vanesa, 2017. "EAF slag in asphalt mixes: A brief review of its possible re-use," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 176-185.
    8. Bryce, James & Brodie, Stefanie & Parry, Tony & Lo Presti, Davide, 2017. "A systematic assessment of road pavement sustainability through a review of rating tools," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 108-118.
    9. Axsen, Jonn & Wolinetz, Michael, 2021. "Taxes, tolls and ZEV zones for climate: Synthesizing insights on effectiveness, efficiency, equity, acceptability and implementation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    10. Cansu İskender & Erol İskender & Atakan Aksoy & Celaleddin Ensar Şengül, 2021. "Effect of Glass Cullet Size and Hydrated Lime—Nanoclay Additives on the Mechanical Properties of Glassphalt Concrete," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    11. Güngör KARAKAŞ, 2022. "Factors affecting food waste awareness in Turkey. The case of Corum province," Eastern Journal of European Studies, Centre for European Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, vol. 13, pages 271-289, June.
    12. Ying Sun & Long Qian & Zhi Liu, 2022. "The carbon emissions level of China’s service industry: an analysis of characteristics and influencing factors," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(12), pages 13557-13582, December.
    13. Yunpeng Zhao & Dimitrios Goulias & Magdalena Dobiszewska & Paweł Modrzyński, 2022. "Life-Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Using Rock Dust as a Partial Replacement of Fine Aggregate and Cement in Concrete Pavements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Luis Rivera-González & David Bolonio & Luis F. Mazadiego & Sebastián Naranjo-Silva & Kenny Escobar-Segovia, 2020. "Long-Term Forecast of Energy and Fuels Demand Towards a Sustainable Road Transport Sector in Ecuador (2016–2035): A LEAP Model Application," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-26, January.
    15. Feng Ma & Aimin Sha & Panpan Yang & Yue Huang, 2016. "The Greenhouse Gas Emission from Portland Cement Concrete Pavement Construction in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-12, June.
    16. Neves, Sónia Almeida & Marques, António Cardoso, 2021. "The substitution of fossil fuels in the US transportation energy mix: Are emissions decoupling from economic growth?," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    17. Scott Le Vine & Charilaos Latinopoulos & John Polak, 2014. "What is the relationship between online activity and driving-licence-holding amongst young adults?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 41(5), pages 1071-1098, September.
    18. Zentar, Rachid & Dubois, Vincent & Abriak, Nor Edine, 2008. "Mechanical behaviour and environmental impacts of a test road built with marine dredged sediments," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 947-954.
    19. Primož Jelušič & Süleyman Gücek & Bojan Žlender & Cahit Gürer & Rok Varga & Tamara Bračko & Murat V. Taciroğlu & Burak E. Korkmaz & Şule Yarcı & Borut Macuh, 2023. "Potential of Using Waste Materials in Flexible Pavement Structures Identified by Optimization Design Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.
    20. Alshammari, Yousef M. & Sarathy, S. Mani, 2017. "Achieving 80% greenhouse gas reduction target in Saudi Arabia under low and medium oil prices," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 502-511.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:13:y:2016:i:3:p:351-:d:66241. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.