Life Cycle Assessment for Transportation Infrastructure Policy Evaluation and Procurement for State and Local Governments

John T. Harvey, Ali A. Butt, Mark T. Lozano, Alissa Kendall, Arash Saboori, Jeremy D. Lea, Changmo Kim and Imad Basheer
Additional contact information
John T. Harvey: University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Ali A. Butt: University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Mark T. Lozano: Energy Systems, Energy and Efficiency Institute, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Alissa Kendall: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Energy and Efficiency Institute, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Arash Saboori: University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Jeremy D. Lea: University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Changmo Kim: University of California Pavement Research Center, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Imad Basheer: Pavement Program, California Department of Transportation, 2389 Gateway Oaks Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 22, 1-36

Abstract: Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time, and achieving mitigation targets requires urgent action to identify and implement strategies for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, identifying, quantifying, and then selecting among the many possible strategies to achieve GHG reductions is difficult, especially without a standardized approach for comparison. Presenting alternatives in a mitigation supply curve is an approach that has been used previously to compare the costs and magnitude of mitigation potential for different strategies. Some of the critiques of this approach include the lack of a consequential perspective in determining mitigation and the lack of a life cycle perspective in quantifying mitigation and economic costs. This research uses the principles of consequential life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis to improve on the mitigation supply curve concept to support evaluation and procurement decisions for transportation infrastructure. Results from pilot studies for road infrastructure indicate that a consequential life cycle approach for mitigation supply curves is feasible and can support agency decision-making and communication regarding those decisions.

Keywords: greenhouse gas emissions; life cycle assessment; life cycle cost analysis; supply curve; benefit–cost; conceptual analysis; transportation infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6377/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/22/6377/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:22:p:6377-:d:286489

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().