Net incremental indirect external benefit of manufacturing recycled aggregate concrete.

Concrete waste (CW) either reaches landfill with mixed waste or crushed to produce crushed concrete (CC) used as a road-base product in Australia. The coarse portion of CC, referred to as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) has the potential to be used as an aggregate in structural concrete replacing natural aggregate (NA). The environmental performance of RAC has been studied in comparison to NAC, in terms of direct environmental implications (DEI) concerning the processes in the production chain of these products.

Identification of 'carbon hot-spots' and quantification of GHG intensities in the biodiesel supply chain using hybrid LCA and structural path analysis.

It is expected that biodiesel production in the EU will remain the dominant contributor as part of a 10% minimum binding target for biofuel in transportation fuel by 2020 within the 20% renewable energy target in the overall EU energy mix. Life cycle assessments (LCA) of biodiesel to evaluate its environmental impacts have, however, remained questionable, mainly because of the adoption of a traditional process analysis approach resulting in system boundary truncation and because of issues regarding the impacts of land use change and N(2)O emissions from fertilizer application. In this study, a hybrid LCA methodology is used to evaluate the life cycle CO(2) equivalent emissions of rape methyl ester (RME) biodiesel.

Greenhouse gas emissions embodied in reinforced concrete and timber railway sleepers.

In Australia, there are currently two main materials used for railway sleepers: timber (river red gum, a species of eucalypt) and reinforced concrete. Within the state of Victoria alone, there are currently seven million railway sleepers that make up the rail network. It is estimated that around two million sleepers, or 29%, are presently required to replace timber sleepers and upgrade the entire network, for which there are significant environmental implications, such as the emission of greenhouse gases.

Validation of a hybrid life-cycle inventory analysis method.

The life-cycle inventory analysis step of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) may currently suffer from several limitations, mainly concerned with the use of incomplete and unreliable data sources and methods of assessment. Many past LCA studies have used traditional inventory analysis methods, namely process analysis and input-output analysis. More recently, hybrid inventory analysis methods have been developed, combining these two traditional methods in an attempt to minimise their limitations.