Kim, B; Lee, H; Park, H and Kim, H (2013) Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from land-use changes due to road construction in the republic of Korea. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 139(3), pp. 339-346. ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Land-use changes are one of the three major sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to human activity, along with fossil fuel combustion and cement production. Because road construction is the foremost cause of land-use changes, it is crucial to quantify the GHG emissions from road construction. However, the effect of GHG emissions attributed to land-use change for a single road construction project has not yet been fully investigated. This study quantified GHG emissions and sequestration from land-use changes due to road construction. Following the guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this study developed a framework to estimate GHG emissions for land-use changes. Eighteen cases involving a typical highway construction project in the Republic of Korea were selected for this study. The net GHG emissions from road construction were estimated to be within the range of 24-105 tons of carbon (tC)/lane-km, with an average of 66 tC/lane-km. Practical methods are suggested to effectively minimize emissions and maximize sequestration. These findings are expected to facilitate the identification of strategies for transportation policies and the realization of a low-carbon society.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | greenhouse gas; land-use change; life-cycle assessment; road construction |
| Index terms: | road construction, highway construction, fossil fuel, sequestration, estimate, estimation, land, greenhouse gas emission, human activity, greenhouse gas, Republic of Korea, low-carbon society, strategy, climate change |
| Subjects: | civil engineering, environmental health, climate science, financial and cost management, energy systems, management, Geography, sociology, real estate economics, sustainability assessment |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Research Practice, Engineering Principles, Business Strategy, Urban Studies, Geographical Context, Cost Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here