Question 1
- When considering impact categories and impact assessment:
- How much regionalization is needed to address specific needs?
- Might impact categories differ for different categories of road within a region?
- What are some regional examples (from your group)?
Discussion Summary of Question 1 [PDF]
Question 2
- Considering indicators:
- Should we move towards IMPACT+ type indicators that divide into global,
regional and local impacts, or continue with our current large
sets (approximately 10) of mid-point indicators which do not really
differenate where the emissions occur?
- Are greenhouse gas emissions and energy enough as impact indicators?
- What do you think are other impact indicators that might be important?
- What kind of guidance would you give to decision makers regarding prioritization / interpretation of impacts / LCA results so they can prioritize?
Discussion Summary of Question 2 [PDF]
Question 3
- How important is international and national collaboration on development and standardization of pavement LCA?
- Is more or less needed or it is about right?
- Why?
- How does global trade and the internationalization of product procurement and services play a role?
Discussion Summary of Question 3 [PDF]
Question 4
- Is it possible to provide a $-value to environmental damage in the US? What are the methods to
balance cost vs GHG (GHG calculators for network level; Policies for management; What
decisions are we ready for)?
Discussion Summary of Question 4 [PDF]
Question 5
- When evaluating materials, technologies and practices that are intended to be more
sustainable in terms of the specifications/regulations, and contractor incentives:
- What are the pros and cons of each?
- What is the role of LCA in each?
- What are the motivators for industry (how, who, when, incentivizing, innovation)?
- If using incentives instead of prescriptive mandates, specifications, and regulations:
- What are some ideas for how to set that up and what would be the role of LCA?
- What is needed in LCA to make that work?
- How would that work in a Design/bid/build (low-bid) delivery system versus a Design/build or
Design/build/maintain delivery system?
Discussion Summary of Question 5 [PDF]
Question 6
- What uses do you see for the kind of “thick mapping” of data for urban areas, such as
detailed electrical energy and water use, remote sensing of carbon dioxide
emissions, traffic patterns, income, age demographics, etc.?
- Can this data be used for validation for pavement LCA models?
- Can this data be considered input data for use phase models
involving vehicles using predictive data for future traffic patterns?
- Are there any other potential uses for this data?
- Is this approach maybe not so useful?
Discussion Summary of Question 6 [PDF]
Question 7
- Regarding allocation rules for “waste” materials coming into pavements from other industries:
- Should all of the impact of producing the material be assigned to the upstream
product, or should it be split between the pavement application and the upstream
product? (e.g. slag cement in concrete and tire rubber in asphalt)?
- Is it possible and feasible to “expand” the system and determine what virgin
pavement materials are not used because of the use of the recycled material?
- Who should be the authority when there are conflicts in allocation between PCRs
from different industries? Do the conflicts need to be resolved?
- How should conflicting PCRs be dealt with, especially when having conflicts with secondary materials?
Discussion Summary of Question 7 [PDF]
Question 8
- Regarding explicit consideration of uncertainty through reporting of impacts as probability distributions:
- Is this important?
- What are the pros and cons?
- What are the difficulties envisaged with this approach?
- Should variability be included in EPDs - particularly for averages?
Discussion Summary of Question 8 [PDF]
Question 9
- Considering LCI information:
- How should routine updating of information on LCIs be done and how often should
this be done? Is this a requirement?
- What are the alternative methods for developing LCI data? Should it
include questionnaires / industry associations / other means?
- What role should regionality play in this?
- How should LCI input be structured in a LCA tool to fit contractor type data? Maybe tied to a pay item?
Discussion Summary of Question 9 [PDF]
Question 10
- Considering LCA model assumptions:
- How comfortable is your group with modeling assumptions in LCA, especially
in light of major differences in impact predictions from different impact
indicator models?
- Should there be an effort for validation of models?
- Should there be an effort for auditing LCA predictions made by a contractor once the job has begun?
Discussion Summary of Question 10 [PDF]
Question 11
- When faced with a backlog of deferred maintenance and rehabilitation, what are
approaches that a road owning agency can take to consider environmental impacts?
- How much of a conflict is there?
- What are potential synergies?
Discussion Summary of Question 11 [PDF]
Question 12
- What are the next steps for PCR / EPD and how should it be used? What
are next steps for EcoLabel type labeling and how should it be used?
Discussion Summary of Question 12 [PDF]
Question 13
- What are the ways to handle proprietary data collation in LCI? How should LCI
data be protected / incentivized / validated?
Discussion Summary of Question 13 [PDF]
Question 14
- Are there alternatives for roughness triggers (i.e. smoothness construction alternatives)? How
should LCA results and LCCA be combined?
Discussion Summary of Question 14 [PDF]
Question 15
- What are the system boundaries for LCA – should changes in trucking routes and
goods damage be included?
Discussion Summary of Question 15 [PDF]
Question 16
- What will truckers do when they have models for fuel economy as a function of smoothness
and structural response? Is it possible to obtain fuel economy data from trucks and
cars and what are the possible data privacy issues? Dispersed data collection mid-point?
Discussion Summary of Question 16 [PDF]
Question 17
- How important do you think it is to develop social impact indicators? What might be
some social impact indicators that might be used along with environmental and economic indicators?
Discussion Summary of Question 17 [PDF]