Greenhouse gas emission analysis for heated pavement system

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have become significant environmental indicators in analyzing the comparative environmental impacts of conventional and newly developed alternative systems or techniques. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is considered an accepted and systematic methodology to calculate the amount of carbon released from all the processes of a system/technique, helping users select the best environmental-friendly alternative. The use of automated heating based snow removal systems is gaining attention as an alternative strategy to traditional ice and snow removal practices such as the use of anti-icing chemicals and snowplowing vehicles. Most previous studies on heated pavement systems have focused on their efficiency and economic evaluation, but few studies have investigated their environmental impacts in a systematic manner. Considering the energy consumptions associated with heated pavement systems, their environmental impacts should be assessed over the life cycle before they could be implemented in airport pavement applications. This study employs a partial LCA methodology to assess the GHG emissions from various operations of energy sources used in geothermal heated pavement systems and their environmental impacts in contrast with traditional snow removal operations, Detailed discussions are presented in the context of developing an environment assessment framework to help users select the most environmentalfriendly snow removal system. Disciplines Geotechnical Engineering This conference proceeding is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ccee_conf/10 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION ANALYSIS FOR HEATED PAVEMENT SYSTEM