Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Road Pavements: Comparing the Quality and Point of Application of Existing Software Tools on the basis of a Norwegian Case Study

Paper in proceeding, 2016

Various software tools have been developed to evaluate the life cycle performances of roads to provide decision supports for road authorities and contractors. It is therefore important to compare the strengths and limitations of these software tools to understand the appropriate application and to identify the points for optimization. This study evaluated EFFEKT 6.6, EKA, and LICCER software tools, by applying the environmental life cycle assessment following the ISO 14040 standard. The assessment was based on an open-air road (excluding tunnels and bridges) with a functional unit of one kilometer and greenhouse gas emissions as well as embodied energy indicators were evaluated in the considered software tools. The open-air road was modeled for each software tool with respects to road class H9 characteristic in Norway, classed as a national road. The assessment showed that the system boundary and purpose of use differed between the considered software tools. This resulted in performing the assessment only over A1 – 4 and B6 modules according to EN 15978 standard for the hypothetical open-air road to provide a comparable boundary condition. The results demonstrated that EFFEKT overall yielded higher values for greenhouse gas emissions and embodied energy compared to the two other software tools, while, the three software tools quantified nearly the same amount of asphalt use within the 20-year analysis period.