Cut Carbon Symposium: Taking a whole life decarbonisation approach
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DecarboN8 Theme Leader, Danielle Densley Tingley, on Taking a whole life decarbonisation approach at the Cut Carbon Symposium 29.09.20
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Cut Carbon Symposium: Taking a whole life decarbonisation approach
- 1. Dr Danielle Densley Tingley Civil & Structural Engineering University of Sheffield Taking a whole life decarbonisation approach
- 2. Why does whole life carbon matter? Material extraction & manufacture New Infrastructure & Vehicles Operation of vehicles & infrastructure Infrastructure & Vehicle Maintenance End of life Reduce Demand Embodied Emissions Embodied Emissions
- 3. Infrastructure interventions happen in places, for people
- 4. TfN Collaboration to study a multi-modal corridor • Case study to apply the whole life carbon approach on an early stage scheme • Tyne & Wear Scheme in South Northumberland • Mix of road, rail & metro • In the 2027-2033 Construction window Expected Outputs: • DecarboN8 webpage/repository of existing datasets/models/tools • DecarboN8 study of whole life carbon assessment & mitigation options for multi- model case study
- 5. Data is needed! (And lots of it…)
Editor's Notes
- I’m Dr Danielle Densley Tingley. My work explores options for the whole life decarbonisation of the built environment – my focus within DecarboN8 is to apply this approach in transport infrastructure.
- The first thing to explore is why whole life carbon matters? With transport the focus is predominately (if not almost entirely) on tailpipe emissions and their equivalents. However, building and maintaining transport infrastructure also produces emissions, as does the production of new vehicles and train fleets. If we focus solely on in-use emissions then we may shift the carbon burden from one life cycle stage across to another. This is particularly important if we consider that we, globally, and nationally have a limited carbon budget. If we only calculate and reduce operational emissions then we’ll exceed our budget (and 1.5deg of global warming) through the emissions in the other life cycle stages. This is particularly poignant for embodied or capital carbon which will be emitted now for new infrastructure projects, these projects often use carbon intensive materials such as concrete and steel. And nationally, and indeed globally decarbonisation of these industrial sectors is relatively slow, and very challenging, a lot of scenarios to decarbonise these rely on carbon capture and storage. A whole life approach requires collaboration across supply chains and government departments. The decarbonising transport strategy explicitly does not include capital carbon. And the view is often that these ‘industrial emissions’ are the purview of BEIS. Except it is the demand for transport infrastructure – new and maintenance of existing that demands materials now, and these sectors cannot be decarbonised overnight. It’s an integrated problem, and when we have a limited carbon budget we need to think strategically on where it is spent for most value. This means a whole life approach must be embedded in strategic decision making.
- If we’re considering where to strategically spend a carbon budget it is critical to remember that infrastructure interventions happen in places, for people. Transport infrastructure is to get people and good between places. This infrastructure requirement is highly dependent on place, as Greg has outlined. Applying the whole life cycle approach to specific infrastructure projects will inherently consider place. i.e. some new road schemes might, temporarily at least, reduce congestion, and thus reduce carbon. The embodied carbon investment may vary depending on the works required and this will be very place specific. It might be that some schemes could pay back their embodied carbon investment in operational carbon savings, helping to justify the schemes. Some schemes may just utilise a significant amount of carbon. And in these cases, we need to question if there is a significant social value being delivered through the scheme that justifies the carbon expenditure. i.e. can you argue that better infrastructure in the North assists in the ‘levelling up agenda’?
- In collaboration with Transport For the North, we’re applying this whole life method to study a multi-modal sub-corridor in South Northumberland. The Tyne and Wear scheme has a combination of road, rail, and metro. Enabling us to apply this approach to different modes. The scheme is in the 2027-2033 construction window giving opportunity for the outcomes of the study to influence the scheme, and potentially the wider strategic approach of infrastructure assessment and prioritisation. In the study we plan to assess the embodied/capital carbon of the different interventions, and compare this to any perceived operational carbon savings (where these have been calculated on the schemes). We’ll also be holding a workshop then exploring how these embodied impacts can be reduced. We’ve had great involvement from Highways England, and Network Rail in our early workshop, and really appreciate the interest from the community. Schemes included: A194(M) Whitemare Pool Junction Improvements A19 Seaton Burn Junction Improvements A19 junction and on-line improvements between Killingworth interchange and Coast Road/Silverlink interchange A19-A193 Howdon interchange signalisation A19/A1056 Killingworth East Coast Main Line spur to Newcastle Airport Port of Tyne Connectivity Sunderland Station and Sunderland Station track layout improvements Newcastle to Middlesbrough (Durham Coast Line) - route & Hartlepool station upgrade and service improvements Rail/ Metro integration improvements within Tyne and Wear to include routes, stations and timetabling A1068 Fisher Lane Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor (Phases 4 and 5) A19/A189 Moor Farm
- We’re at a very early stage of the study, currently gathering data to do the assessment. A challenge of this sort of assessment is that ideally lots of data is required to do this analysis – and more benchmark data for different types of schemes is needed if this analysis is to be embedded into strategic decision making. DecarboN8 has funded a seedcorn project that is exploring just this...I'll hand over to Jannik to tell you more about it...