There are several Infrastructure tools available, some look only at carbon and others are for performing a full infrastructure LCA. This guidance serves as a basic guidance for all of the Infrastructure tools.
1. Verify your LCA parameters
Setting the LCA parameters will generate default values for the service life settings of your construction materials and the transportation types and distances.
Service life: Each material row in your assessment will use a certain service life to calculate its impacts for replacement and disposal. Here you can define the default service life that is automatically applied to every material in the calculation. The default value will be ignored if you change the service life manually in the 'Construction materials' question form. Read more about service life
here.
Transportation distances: Each material row in your assessment will use a certain transportation mode and distance from the material manufacturer to the construction site to calculate its transportation impacts. Here you can define the default transportation distances that are automatically applied to every material in the calculation. The default value will be ignored if you change the input manually in the 'Construction materials' question form.
Local compensation: Each material in your assessment has its manufacturing impacts largely defined by the energy profile of its manufacturing country. Here you can select the local compensation factor, which adjusts impacts of material manufacturing in another country to represent manufacturing in chosen location.
The local compensation factor is calculated using energy grid and other data. We use a data regionalization methodology according to CEN/TR 15941:2010 to adjust the emissions to match with local manufacturing conditions. If you do not wish to use this, leave empty.
2. Set your calculation period
The 'Calculation period' defines the service life of the infrastructure. All the impacts are calculated over this period.
Press 'Input data' and open 'Calculation period'. Enter the calculation period (service life of the infrastructure) as required by the client or by regulation. If no required service life is defined, you can use the service life intended by the designer.
Choose the right type of mass, and you can provide a cost item and comment to each row. Specify if you have masses which are only removed, masses which can be reused within the project or masses that have been sourced for the project.
If you use sourced masses for the project and these are recycled masses, make sure to pick the resources marked as 'waste status'.
All of the materials entered in this query are considered have a permanent service life setting.
For the query construction materials, fill in all other materials which are not considered to be masses. Masses are not considered to have replacements, anything with a shorter service life than e.g. a road, has to be reported under the construction materials. If any materials have to be replaced during the service life they have to be entered in the construction materials query.
Fill in your project information in Construction materials question form by entering the design either manually or by importing your data (see different import options
here; guidance for data import can be found
here). Excel import is most commonly used for the Infrastructure tool LCAs.
- Geotechnical structures and foundations - Enter here e.g. structure concrete piling. The service life of this section has been set to not be replaced during the service life of the structure.
- Technical structures, construction works and systems - Any structures and systems.
- Surface and pavement layers - Fill in all the pavings here, such as asphalt.
- Materials used on the construction site - Fill in here any materials which are used during the construction but are not a part of the final construction, such as temporary structures or moulds.
5. Verify transportation distances and material service lifes.
Verify material transportation distances
Adjust transportation vehicle type and distance from the manufacturer to the construction site for each material if needed. Default values are generated based on your choice on LCA Parameters.
Verify material service lifes
Adjust service life of construction materials if needed. This will determine the material replacement impacts. If you want a material not to be replaced at all, you can give it a service life -1 and save. This way it will last for the duration of the project. Default values are generated based on your choice on LCA Parameters.
For the query construction site operations, fill in all the energy, water and waste generated during the construction site operations. Energy or fuel used to operate vehicles and water used to reduce dust pollution.
It is important to note that masses are removed from the site to be used on a different site should be excluded from this section, and should rather be filled in under 'Earthworks and mass hauling' if your Infrastructure tool has this query.
Further more you can also enter additional trips for the transport to the construction site in masses per kg or ton.
For the use phase query fill firstly fill in the carbonating structures and select the appropriate amount of years.
For B2 Maintenance, fill in any annual maintenance that happens during the operations.
Input here the energy and fuel used for maintenance operations.
For B3 Repair, fill in any annual repairs, materials used for repair operations.
Input here the materials needed for repairs such as bitumen for asphalt maintenance. Energy and fuel are left out of this section as the impacts are assumed to be minimal.
For B6 Energy use, fill in the annual energy consumption, e.g. for the lightning consumption.
For B7 Water use, fill in the annual water consumption if relevant.
In the PAS2080 tool you can also fill in B8 'Other operational processes' and B9 'Users utilization of infrastructure', such as the fuel consumption of the traffic.