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Carbon footprinting of railway embankments and cuttings: a circular framework

Carbon footprinting of railway embankments and cuttings: a circular framework
Carbon footprinting of railway embankments and cuttings: a circular framework
There is now a consensus that global temperatures are rising and that the world is in a climate emergency. Science has proven unequivocally that there is a relationship between anthropogenic carbon emissions and global warming. Reducing anthropogenic carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 is now one of the highest priorities for many governments around the world. Network Rail (NR), as the GB mainline railway infrastructure manager, have a need to align themselves with the legal requirement to meet net zero by 2050. At present the quantities of carbon in railway geotechnical assets, in particular embankments and cuttings, are not well understood or recorded as separate entities. The research described in this paper aims to fill this gap through the accurate measurement of carbon emissions associated with railway embankments and cuttings in a business as usual (BAU) scenario. This data can then be interrogated to identify potential areas of savings. Carbon sequestration measures such as afforestation and enhanced weathering may also be deployed as part of this effort to balance the carbon in a project to net zero. This paper outlines a proposed framework to measure the lifetime carbon associated with earthworks assets and identify areas of carbon intensity (‘hot spots’). It then discusses potential solutions to reduce carbon and thus assist NR in meeting its science-based targets via a move from a linear to a resource cycle analysis, taking into account circularity principles.

8-13
Navaei, T.
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Blainey, S.
ee6198e5-1f89-4f9b-be8e-52cc10e8b3bb
Powrie, W.
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Preston, J.
ef81c42e-c896-4768-92d1-052662037f0b
Navaei, T.
c7223136-e1fb-4eed-aeeb-d83ca7ca5d58
Blainey, S.
ee6198e5-1f89-4f9b-be8e-52cc10e8b3bb
Powrie, W.
600c3f02-00f8-4486-ae4b-b4fc8ec77c3c
Preston, J.
ef81c42e-c896-4768-92d1-052662037f0b

Navaei, T., Blainey, S., Powrie, W. and Preston, J. (2022) Carbon footprinting of railway embankments and cuttings: a circular framework. Energy Reports (2022), 8 (Supp. 11), 8-13. (doi:10.1016/j.egyr.2022.05.051).

Record type: Special issue

Abstract

There is now a consensus that global temperatures are rising and that the world is in a climate emergency. Science has proven unequivocally that there is a relationship between anthropogenic carbon emissions and global warming. Reducing anthropogenic carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 is now one of the highest priorities for many governments around the world. Network Rail (NR), as the GB mainline railway infrastructure manager, have a need to align themselves with the legal requirement to meet net zero by 2050. At present the quantities of carbon in railway geotechnical assets, in particular embankments and cuttings, are not well understood or recorded as separate entities. The research described in this paper aims to fill this gap through the accurate measurement of carbon emissions associated with railway embankments and cuttings in a business as usual (BAU) scenario. This data can then be interrogated to identify potential areas of savings. Carbon sequestration measures such as afforestation and enhanced weathering may also be deployed as part of this effort to balance the carbon in a project to net zero. This paper outlines a proposed framework to measure the lifetime carbon associated with earthworks assets and identify areas of carbon intensity (‘hot spots’). It then discusses potential solutions to reduce carbon and thus assist NR in meeting its science-based targets via a move from a linear to a resource cycle analysis, taking into account circularity principles.

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Accepted/In Press date: 14 May 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 May 2022
Published date: 28 May 2022
Venue - Dates: Multi-CDT Conference on Clean Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom, 2022-04-05 - 2022-05-06

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 484940
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484940
PURE UUID: e1ac7c09-5b7e-407d-9748-8ff271787b3a
ORCID for S. Blainey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4249-8110
ORCID for W. Powrie: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2271-0826
ORCID for J. Preston: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6866-049X

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Date deposited: 24 Nov 2023 17:43
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:15

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Contributors

Author: T. Navaei
Author: S. Blainey ORCID iD
Author: W. Powrie ORCID iD
Author: J. Preston ORCID iD

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