ABSTRACT
While most businesses prioritize economic repercussions of business decisions, nearly all civil engineering infrastructure projects impact the environment as well through the production of emissions and waste. The environment is impacted during production, construction, use, and termination of roadways, wastewater treatment plants, dams, and buildings. Emissions produced can range from carbon dioxide to volatile organic compounds; while, waste is anything from demolished structures to scalped raw material. Several potential tools are available to quantify the environmental impact of projects. These tools will help associate measurable numbers with emissions and waste, which then allows for an understanding of the ways designs can be changed to reduce such emissions and wastes. The first topic covered will be the structure of a life cycle assessment (LCA). The second topic will dive into details of the outputs of the LCA. After the comprehensive discussion of LCAs, examples of Product Category Rules (PCRs) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) will be provided from the steel industry. Finally, this chapter will end with a brief discussion on other environmental qualifications and quantifications of sustainability, including Ecological Footprint (EF), water footprint, and planet boundary.
