Material stock and environmental burdens of coastal bridge infrastructure in China: A bottom-up life cycle perspective
Huanshan Ning, Zhen Guo, Haibo Feng, Peidong Zhang, Jiawei Shen, Zhiwei Zhang
TL;DR
This study evaluates the material use and environmental impacts of coastal bridges in China, highlighting the need for sustainable infrastructure strategies.
Contribution
The paper introduces the first integrated bottom-up assessment of material stock and environmental burdens for China’s coastal bridges.
Findings
Cable-stayed bridges make up 63.9% of the total material stock of 369.32 million tons.
Steel production contributes 60.9% of global warming potential despite comprising only 13.9% of material stock.
Hidden flows from overdesign and maintenance add 27.8% to global warming potential and 49.9% to marine ecotoxicity.
Abstract
China’s rapid expansion of maritime infrastructure has positioned coastal bridges as critical components of national economic and transport strategies. However, their material stock scale, material intensity and long-term environmental impacts remain underexamined. This study presents the first integrated assessment of material stock (MS) and lifecycle environmental burdens associated with China’s coastal bridges, using a bottom-up material flow analysis and ReCiPe 2016 midpoint life cycle assessment (LCA). Results based on 510 coastal bridges show a total in-use material stock of 369.32 million tons, with cable-stayed bridges accounting for 63.9%. Suspension bridges exhibit the highest material intensity (18.78 t/km), primarily due to anchorage systems requiring 12.4 times more crushed stone and 4.7 times more concrete than cable-stayed designs. Life cycle assessment reveals that raw…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMarine Biology and Environmental Chemistry · Concrete Corrosion and Durability · Microplastics and Plastic Pollution