Abstract:Sustainability and issues related to sustainability (e.g., climate change, depletion of natural resources, and other environmental and ecological hazards) are emerging concerns in the civil engineering profession. Civil engineers have an opportunity and responsibility to contribute to the solutions of these global problems given that civil infrastructure projects consume large quantities of energy and resources and can have significant impacts on the environment. This paper describes an integrated life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA) approach that was developed to evaluate the impacts of civil engineering technologies and inform decision making in academic research and professional practice toward more sustainable solutions. The developed methodology provides a more holistic approach compared to current project decision making, which is driven primarily by minimizing cost while satisfying safety and performance criteria. Through an example focusing on liquefaction mitigation strategies, this paper demonstrates how the developed LCSA tool can be applied to existing and incipient technologies to make comparisons and provide sustainability-oriented guidance on future research and development efforts.

Note:Recommended citation: Raymond, A.J., DeJong, J.T., Kendall, A. (2023). Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment: A Tool for Civil Engineering Research Prioritization and Project Decision Making. In: H. Hazirika, S. Haigh, H. Kanaya , et al. Sustainable Geo-Technologies for Climate Change Adaptation. Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4074-3_11