Carbon Credit Estimation Tool for Sustainable Pavement Projects

Pavement covers 45% of the land in urban regions of the U.S. and produces over 17 million metric tons of greenhouse gases every year. While technology exists to curb emissions, unfortunately, government agencies and private businesses are slow to change business as usual for short-term stability and profits. This paper presents a web-service application, namely PaveNext that enables pavement designers to compare traditional and sustainable pavement design with consideration of performance requirements and economic differences. In particular, the app puts an emerging standard for generating carbon credits with sustainable pavement into practice. The app basis, object model, and implementation are discussed and demonstrated using the $190 million Interstate 64 project in Virginia. By replacing hot mix asphalt (HMA) with foam stabilized base asphalt (FSB), the app shows the most conservative sustainable design saves, at minimum, 3,300 t CO₂ emissions and is likely eligible for at least $8,500 in carbon credits. The pros and cons of app-based pavement design optimization are also discussed.

• Record URL:
  http://ntc.umd.edu/sites/default/files/documents/research/NTC2016-SU-R-08%20Qingbin%20Cui.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  http://ntc.umd.edu/node/161
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Center at Maryland

  1124 Glenn Martin Hall
  University of Maryland
  College Park, MD  United States  20742

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Cui, Qingbin
  • Zhang, Lei
  • Choy, David
  • Liu, Xiaoyu
• Publication Date: 2017-12-17

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Carbon dioxide; Case studies; Environmental impacts; Foamed materials; Greenhouse gases; Hot mix asphalt; Life cycle analysis; Pavement design; Web applications
• Geographic Terms: Virginia
• Subject Areas: Design; Environment; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01666299
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTC2016-SU-R-08
• Files: UTC, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Apr 19 2018 9:48AM