Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Assessing the Carbon Cost of Utility Installation via Multi-Utility Tunnels (MUTs)
Progressive urbanization and the concomitant requirement to develop new cities fuels the need for more sub-surface utility infrastructure. Conventional methods of utility placement, i.e. open-cut trenching techniques, are expensive in terms of their many social, environmental, and indirect economic costs. This necessitates consideration of alternative construction methods such as Multi-Utility Tunnels (MUTs). However, a lack of quantification of their short-term and long-term costs and impacts (i.e. a comprehensive understanding of all the consequences of moving to MUTs) inhibits uptake. Carbon accounting, a globally important consideration, is increasingly adopted within the construction industry and could be used as a convincing argument for why alternatives such as MUTs might be a preferred method of utility placement in cities that are advancing global sustainability agendas. This paper compares carbon cost estimations of open-cut excavations with flush-fitting MUTs. The results show that although flush-fitting MUTs have much greater carbon footprints in the short-term compared to open-cut installation methods, they would save a considerable amount of carbon in the long-term (over their lifetime) by eliminating the need for numerous excavation and reinstatement (E&R) procedures, which are inevitable for repair and maintenance of buried utility services. The research reveals the tipping points in favour of flush-fitting MUTs, in terms of carbon saved, when repetitive E&R works are eradicated, to support their adoption.
Assessing the Carbon Cost of Utility Installation via Multi-Utility Tunnels (MUTs)
Progressive urbanization and the concomitant requirement to develop new cities fuels the need for more sub-surface utility infrastructure. Conventional methods of utility placement, i.e. open-cut trenching techniques, are expensive in terms of their many social, environmental, and indirect economic costs. This necessitates consideration of alternative construction methods such as Multi-Utility Tunnels (MUTs). However, a lack of quantification of their short-term and long-term costs and impacts (i.e. a comprehensive understanding of all the consequences of moving to MUTs) inhibits uptake. Carbon accounting, a globally important consideration, is increasingly adopted within the construction industry and could be used as a convincing argument for why alternatives such as MUTs might be a preferred method of utility placement in cities that are advancing global sustainability agendas. This paper compares carbon cost estimations of open-cut excavations with flush-fitting MUTs. The results show that although flush-fitting MUTs have much greater carbon footprints in the short-term compared to open-cut installation methods, they would save a considerable amount of carbon in the long-term (over their lifetime) by eliminating the need for numerous excavation and reinstatement (E&R) procedures, which are inevitable for repair and maintenance of buried utility services. The research reveals the tipping points in favour of flush-fitting MUTs, in terms of carbon saved, when repetitive E&R works are eradicated, to support their adoption.
Assessing the Carbon Cost of Utility Installation via Multi-Utility Tunnels (MUTs)
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
Walbridge, Scott (Herausgeber:in) / Nik-Bakht, Mazdak (Herausgeber:in) / Ng, Kelvin Tsun Wai (Herausgeber:in) / Shome, Manas (Herausgeber:in) / Alam, M. Shahria (Herausgeber:in) / el Damatty, Ashraf (Herausgeber:in) / Lovegrove, Gordon (Herausgeber:in) / Hojjati, A. (Autor:in) / Hunt, D. V. L. (Autor:in) / Rogers, C. D. F. (Autor:in)
Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference ; 2021
Proceedings of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference 2021 ; Kapitel: 12 ; 149-162
30.05.2022
14 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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