JPIURBAN-Urban Europe

HERMES was a collaboration with partneres in Norway (SINTEF and NTNU), Austria (Graz University of Technology and Zement + Beton Handels und W GmbH) and China (Whuhan University of Technology and Shandong University of Science and Technology). Project leader is SINTEF with Terje Kristensen, PhD. The HERMES project was based within the project type applied research and the project type innovation and implementation, since the main focus was to improve how we conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) for road constructions. Furthermore, within the project a lifetime prediction of the durability of green asphalt was explored. By developing a methodology for assessing the sustainability of asphalt technologies and rate different green solutions the urban circular economies was strengthend. The project also discussed and suggested a common system boundary for conducting LCA in the planning phase of a new infrastructure project. Overall, more than 30 scientific papers were published during the project lifespan.

HERMES hadde som hovedmålsetting å gjøre store forbedringer i databasen for lifvsyklusanalyser (LCA) for veibygging, samt å utforske kvaliteten og holdbarheten til forskjellige asfaltsammensetninger, og komme med anbefalinger til beslutningstagere for den kombinasjonen som gir minst klimafotavtrykk over asfaltens livssyklus. Gjennom en lang rekke vitenskaplig publikasjoner på elementer som inngår i veibygging, samt meta-studier, bidro prosjektet til å heve kunnskapen på asfalt og asfalten livssyklus. Flere av de publiserte artiklene inneholder konkrete råd og veiledninger for utbyggere om alternative løsninger og sammensetninger, samt deres fotavtrykk i et livsløpsperspektiv. HERMES-prosjektet ønsket også å bidra for å etablere en konsensus for hvor systemgrenser skal gå i LCA vurderingen i planleggingsfasen av et infrastrukturprosjekt. Noen endelig konsensus ble ikke nådd, men prosjektet presenterte en omfattende oversikt over de forskjellige systemgrensene som i dag brukes, og gav en klare anbefalinger på minimumsgrenser for livsøpsberegninger i veibygging. Totalt bidrog prosjektet til over 30 vitenskaplige artikler.

This project is based within the project type applied research and the project type innovation and implementation, since the main focus is to improve the database required to perform a detailed and precise life cycle assessment for road constructions. Furthermore, within the project a lifetime prediction of the durability of green asphalt should be explored. By developing a methodology for assessing the sustainability of asphalt technologies and rate different green solutions the urban circular economies should be strengthen. The project will not focus on one national solution for road constructions as such, in order to avoid a strictly national approach. Rather, the project acknowledges that road construction influence climate mitigation policies, which are interlinked in different ways and contribute to different SDG´s. By doing this, a more integrated approach is applied, which allows for a broader understanding of how mutual dependencies exist in the development of road constructions. Moreover, the project is especially aimed at creating a management system able to take into account the pavement life cycle, environmental/social/ economic issues. Special emphasis in this regard is put on how this management and monitoring is performed with regards to evaluating climate change policies. For an increased implementation the methodologies will be applied in trial road sections throughout Europe and China. The project involves trans-national co-operation between Norway, Austria and China. The trans-national co-operationallows for comparisons of how road constructions in Norway, Austria and China approach sustainability assessment of their strategic plans and projects. Such a trans-national comparison and interchange of knowledge provides an opportunity to share policy making experiments and identify important differences in planning frameworks and approaches.