esnats - d061 - mainline project...d5.2 assessment of environmental performance tools and methods...

MAINLINE MAINtenance, renewaL and Improvement of rail transport iNfrastructure

to reduce Economic and environmental impacts

Collaborative project (Small or medium-scale focused research project)

Theme SST.2011.5.2-6.: Cost-effective improvement of rail transport infrastructure

Deliverable 5.2: Assessment of environmental performance tools

and methods

Grant Agreement number: 285121 SST.2011.5.2-6.

Start date of project: 1 October 2011 Duration: 36 months

Lead beneficiary of this deliverable: SKM

Due date of deliverable: 31/03/2012 Actual submission date: 08/03/2013

Release: 4 Final Version

Project co-funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme

Dissemination Level

PU Public X

PP Restricted to other programme participants (including the Commission Services)

RE Restricted to a group specified by the consortium (including the Commission Services)

CO Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the Commission Services)

D5.2 Assessment of environmental performance tools and methods MAINLINE SST.2011.5.2-6.

ML-D5.2-F-ASSESSMENT_OF ENVIRONMENTAL_PERFORMANCE_TOOLS_AND_METHODS.DOCX 08/03/2013

PU Copyright © MAINLINE Consortium Page 1

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................... 3

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................................... 3

GLOSSARY .................................................................................................................................................... 4

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 5

1.1 SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................ 5 1.2 CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 5 1.3 AREAS FOR FURTHER WORK ................................................................................................................. 6

2. GENERAL REMARKS............................................................................................................................. 7

3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................................... 9

4. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 10

4.1 BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION ......................................................................................................... 10 4.2 SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................... 10 4.3 RELATED PROJECTS .......................................................................................................................... 11

4.3.1 InfraGuidER – Infrastructure Guidelines for Environmental Railway Performance ................. 11 4.3.2 Bothnia Line – Life Cycle Assessment of railways for application in Environmental Product

Declarations ........................................................................................................................................... 12 4.3.3 SMART RAIL Project – Smart Maintenance and Analysis of Transport Infrastructure ........... 12

4.4 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 13

5. ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSIONS ASSOCIATED WITH RAILWAY MAINTENANCE AND RENEWAL …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14

5.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 14 5.2 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FROM CO2 EMISSIONS ................................................................................. 14

5.2.1 Impact of Materials and Methods on CO2 Emissions .............................................................. 14 5.2.2 Comparison of Materials and Methods based on CO2 emissions ........................................... 15 5.2.3 Impact of Traffic Disturbances on CO2 emissions ................................................................... 16

5.3 OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS ................................................................................................ 16 5.3.1 Waste Management ................................................................................................................. 16 5.3.2 Water Use ................................................................................................................................ 17 5.3.3 Depletion of Natural Resources ............................................................................................... 17 5.3.4 Hazardous Substances ............................................................................................................ 17 5.3.5 Noise ........................................................................................................................................ 17 5.3.6 Ecology .................................................................................................................................... 17 5.3.7 Land Pollution .......................................................................................................................... 17

5.4 SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 18 5.5 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 21

6. ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES ................................................................................ 22

6.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 22 6.2 SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS .............................................................................................................. 22

7. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL BENCHMARKING METHODS AND TOOLS ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………25

7.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 25 7.1.1 Life Cycle Assessment Tools (LCA Tools) .............................................................................. 25 7.1.2 Environment Benchmark Assessment Methods ...................................................................... 29 7.1.3 Carbon Accounting Tools ........................................................................................................ 30

7.2 OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT TOOLS ................................................................ 30 7.2.1 Athena Eco-Calculator for Building Assemblies [7] ................................................................. 30 7.2.2 Sima-Pro Life Cycle Assessment Tool [5] ............................................................................... 31 7.2.3 BEES (Building for Environment and Economic Sustainability) [6] ......................................... 31




7.2.4 GaBi (Ganzheitlichen Bilanzierung) [2] .................................................................................... 32 7.2.5 TEAM (Tools for Environmental Analysis and Management) [8] ............................................. 33 7.2.6 ENVEST 2 [1]........................................................................................................................... 33 7.2.7 WISARD (Waste Integrated Assessment for Recovery and Disposal) [10] ............................ 34 7.2.8 Summary Review of LCA Tools ............................................................................................... 36

7.3 OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE ENVIRONMENT BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT SCHEMES ................................... 37 7.3.1 CEEQUAL (Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Awards) [11] ............. 37 7.3.2 BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) [12]...... 38 7.3.3 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) [13] .................................................. 39 7.3.4 SBTool (Sustainable Building Tool) [14] .................................................................................. 39 7.3.5 DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen) [15] ................................................ 40 7.3.6 CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) [16].......... 41 7.3.7 HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale) [17] .......................................................................... 42 7.3.8 Summary Review of Assessment Systems ............................................................................. 43

7.4 OVERVIEW OF AVAILABLE CARBON ACCOUNTING TOOLS ..................................................................... 44 7.4.1 Highway Agency Carbon Calculator for Major Projects [18] ................................................... 44 7.4.2 Environment Agency (EA) Carbon Calculator for Construction Activities [19] ........................ 45

7.5 COMPARISON AND APPLICABILITY ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT TOOLS AND METHODS

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………46 7.5.1 Comparison of General Aspects of the Groups of Tools and Methods ................................... 46 7.5.2 Applicability Assessment of Environmental Assessment Tools and Methods ........................ 47

7.6 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................... 48

8. ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS .................................................................... 49

8.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 49 8.2 WASTE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................................... 49 8.3 GLOBAL WARMING ............................................................................................................................ 49 8.4 AIR QUALITY ..................................................................................................................................... 52 8.5 WATER ............................................................................................................................................. 52 8.6 HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ................................................................................................................. 52 8.7 NOISE ............................................................................................................................................... 53 8.8 LAND POLLUTION .............................................................................................................................. 53 8.9 ECOLOGY.......................................................................................................................................... 53 8.10 ENVIRONMENTAL LCA STANDARDS ................................................................................................ 54

8.10.1 ISO 14040- Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment ........................................ 54 8.10.2 Greenhouse Gas Protocol ....................................................................................................... 54 8.10.3 CEN/TC/350 – Sustainability of Construction Works............................................................... 55

8.11 SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................... 55 8.12 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................ 56

9. ANALYSIS ............................................................................................................................................. 57

9.1 ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 57 9.2 ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 57

10. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................. 60

10.1 SELECTION OF IMPACT CATEGORIES TO BE CONSIDERED .................................................................. 60 10.2 TOOLS WITH POTENTIAL TO BE APPLIED TO THE LCAT ..................................................................... 60 10.3 SELECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL METRICS WITHIN CHOSEN IMPACT CATEGORIES ............................... 61 10.4 FLEXIBILITY OF TOOL ..................................................................................................................... 61

11. APPENDIX A…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..62




List of figures

Figure 2-1: General organisation of the project ............................................................................................... 7

Figure 5-1: Concrete alternatives for a tunnel for comparative service lives [3] ........................................... 16

Figure 7-1: Sima-Pro schematic overview of a process tree [5].................................................................... 26

Figure 7-2: Overview of product alternatives selection in BEES. [7] ............................................................. 27

Figure 7-3: Impact 2000 methodology as an example to show the approach mechanism [3]. ..................... 28

Figure 7-4: Athena Eco-Calculator tabular summary is showing impact categories values and assemblies, and the pie charts are showing environment performance for building assemblies against each environment impact category [7]. ....................................................................................................................................... 28

Figure 7-5: BEES, comparison of environmental impact level (in g CO2/unit) among various finishes alternatives to global warming impact. It also shows the impact level over the life cycle stages of the alternatives. [6] .............................................................................................................................................. 29

Figure 7-6: Overview of HA Carbon Calculator Spreadsheet [18] ................................................................ 45

Figure 9-1: Potential areas for environmental EU Legislation to be applied within the MAINLINE Project .. 58

Figure 10-1: Prevalence of environmental impact categories across three areas of research ..................... 60

List of tables

Table 5-1: Detailed dominance analysis for the contribution in % (decimals not included) of infrastructure material to the environmental impact category Global Warming [2].............................................................. 15

Table 5-2: Summary of environmental impacts associated a selection of railway maintenance and renewal activities ......................................................................................................................................................... 20

Table 6 1: Heat map of questionnaire responses related to Environmental Impact Assessment ................. 24

Table 7-1: Summary review of LCA tools ...................................................................................................... 36

Table 7-2: Summary review of assessment systems .................................................................................... 43

Table 8-1: EU-15 quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments for 2008-2012 [1] ..................... 50

Table 8-2: Member States Annual Emissions Allocation for the year 2013 to 2020 (draft values published on 17

th October 2012) Source data obtained from [2] ................................................................................... 51

Table 8-3: Summary of European Directives with potential cost implications for railway maintenance and renewal activities ........................................................................................................................................... 55

Table 8-4: Summary of International Standards providing guidance for the development of an environmental LCAT ...................................................................................................................................... 56




Glossary

Abbreviation / acronym Description

AEA Annual Emissions Allowance

AQMA Air Quality Management Area

CBM Bromochloromethane

CCL Climate Change Levy

CF Carbon Footprint

CFC Chlorofluorocarbon

DoW Description of Work

EC European Commission

EF Ecological Footprint

EIA Environmental Impact Assessment

EPD Environmental Product Declaration

GHG Greenhouse Gas

HCFC Hydrochlorofluorocarbon

HFC Hydrofluorocarbon

IM Infrastructure Manager

KPI Key Performance Indicator

LCA Life Cycle Analysis

LCAT Life Cycle Analysis Tool

LCC Life Cycle Cost

ODS Ozone Depleting Substance

PFC Perfluorocarbons

SF6 Sulfur Hexafluoride

WP Work Package




1. Executive summary

1.1 Scope

This document will report on the following areas of research undertaken as part of Task 5.2:

A general review of the range of environmental parameters that are associated with railway

maintenance and renewal activities.

Benchmarking of current environmental performance measurement approaches across a sample

of European railway infrastructure managers (IM). This is achieved through analysis of

questionnaire responses arising from Task 5.3.

A review of currently available tools and techniques for measuring environmental performance.

A review of all relevant EU legislation and examples of national implementation in order to

determine which aspects are most pertinent to railway assets, both now and in the future.

The aim of this report is to analyse the findings across all four areas of research and make conclusions on the best features to be considered for gap analysis and subsequently carried forward into the development of the MAINLINE Life Cycle Assessment Tool (LCAT)

1.2 Conclusions

All areas of research undertaken within this task support the decision to focus on CO2 emissions as a key environmental performance indicator. It is the category that has featured most prominently in the review of IM concerns, existing commercial tools and European legislation. Another category that featured consistently across the research was waste management and should therefore also be considered for inclusion in the LCAT.

The questionnaire responses indicate that at present Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) are not widely carried out for railway maintenance works, but are sometimes carried out for renewal works. The EIAs carried out for renewal works tend to be for large projects only and may only be used for the renewal of certain asset types, for example only for tunnels, cuttings and bridges. None of the interviewed IMs are currently using a commercial or specially developed tool for carrying out maintenance and renewal EIAs. However there does appear to be a growing interest in environmental issues, and if a maintenance and renewal LCA tool became available it would be considered as valuable by most.

A number of commercial tools and systems for measuring and assessing environmental impacts already exist in other sectors within the building and civil engineering industries. Perhaps the most applicable types are the life cycle assessment tools, as they use a similar approach to the life cycle costing tools which will be at the heart of the MAINLINE LCAT. However given the importance of the carbon agenda, features of the carbon accounting tools may also be considered for inclusion in the tool if more detailed assessment of CO2 emissions is required.

This research has highlighted that not only are there several ways of categorising environmental impacts, there are also several different metrics which may be used to quantify any given impact. The mass of CO2e metric is the most commonly used across LCA and carbon accounting tools, because it is the most versatile as it can be applied to emissions from all sources, for example energy generation, material production or transportation. Moreover, the CO2e metric is likely to be most compatible with government set emission reduction targets and charging systems; for example the EU Annual Emissions Allowances




(AEAs) for 2012-2020 will be set in terms of CO2e and will drive Member States to base their carbon pricing strategy on this metric. Hence it is suggested that CO2e would be an appropriate metric to include within the MAINLINE LCAT. However it should also be noted that CO2e values may be less readily available than other measures such as energy or fuel consumption as they require large, region specific datasets.

None of the currently available tools reviewed convert the environmental impacts into monetary terms, and the development of a tool with this capability would represent a step change in IM prioritisation of maintenance and renewal activities. However, achieving such functionality in the tool would present several challenges due of the lack of country specific data, monetary weightings and taxation values. It may therefore be impractical in the first instance to accurately assess and compare intervention options in this way, however as information becomes available, the tool could be adapted to take advantage of this.

1.3 Areas for further work

The findings of this report provide input to the detailed gap analysis to be carried out in task 5.3. The gap analysis will then feed into task 5.4 which is the development of the methodology for the LCAT. A prototype tool will then be developed in task 5.5.




2. General remarks

The project 'MAINtenance, renewaL and Improvement of rail transport iNfrastructure to reduce Economic and environmental impacts' (in short MAINLINE) is an integrated project within the EU's 7th Framework Programme. It has been part funded on the basis of the contract SST.2011.5.2-6 between the European Union, represented by the European Commission, and the International Union of Railways (UIC) acting as coordinator for the project.

The main objectives of the project are:

Apply new technologies to extend the life of elderly infrastructure

Improve degradation and structural models to develop more realistic life cycle cost and safety models

Investigate new construction methods for the replacement of obsolete infrastructure

Investigate monitoring techniques to complement or replace existing examination techniques

Develop management tools to assess whole life environmental and economic impact

The present report D5.2 – Assessment of Environmental tools and methods has been prepared within work package WP5 of the MAINLINE project, named ‘Whole life environmental and economic asset management', one of the eight work packages (WP1-WP8), dealing with relevant tasks for maintenance, renewal and improvement of rail transport infrastructure to reduce economic and environmental impacts.

An overview of the general organization of the project is presented below together with the list of all the partners in work package WP5:

Figure 2-1: General organisation of the project




Part n° WP5 Partners Country

1 UNION INTERNATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER (UIC) FR

2 NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE LTD (NR) UK

3 COWI A/S (COWI) DK

4 SINCLAIR KNIGHT MERZ (SKM) UK

5 UNIVERSITY OF SURREY (SURREY) UK

6 TWI LIMITED (TWI) UK

7 UNIVERSIDADE DO MINHO (UMinho) PT

8 LULEA TEKNISKA UNIVERSITET (LTU) SE

11 UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA (UPC) ES

12 TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET GRAZ (TUGRAZ) AT

13 TURKIYE CUMHURIYETI DEVLET DEMIR YOLLARI ISLETMESI GENEL MUDURLUGU (TCDD)

TR

The main objective of WP5 is to create a tool (Life Cycle Assessment Tool - LCAT) that can compare different maintenance/replacement strategies for track and infrastructure based on a life cycle evaluation. The evaluation shall quantify:

Direct economic costs

Availability (Delay costs/user cost/benefit from upgrade etc.)

Environmental impact costs

The comparison cannot be based only on the optimization of the economic and environmental aspects. The tool’s optimisation process must also take into account minimum target safety levels.

WP5 interacts with WP1-4 and WP6 in the following ways;

Inputs to WP5

WP1 will provide maintenance strategies for extended life and possible upgrades.

WP2 will provide lifetime performance assessment tools for the considered assets.

WP3 will provide replacement strategies for the considered elements.

WP4 will provide input via WP2 with condition indicators from measurements.

Outputs from WP5

WP5 will provide guidance on when to replace obsolete infrastructure to WP3.

WP5 will provide dissemination and exploitation data to WP6.

WP5 will assist WP6 in dissemination activities.




3. Acknowledgments

This present report has been prepared within work package WP5 of the MAINLINE project by the following team of contractors, with SKM as the work package leader:

Union Internationale des Chemins de fer (UIC), France

Lulea Tekniska Universitet (LTU), Sweden

Network Rail (NR), United Kingdom

COWI A/S (COWI), Denmark

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM), United kingdom

University of Surrey (Surrey), United Kingdom

Service d'Etudes Techniques des Routes et Autoroutes (SETRA), France

Universidade Do Minho (Uminho), Portugal

The following individuals, from some of the above listed organisations, have prepared and edited this report:

Sinclair Knight Merz – Leanne Coker, Rachel Pickering, Lucy Chesterfield, Robert Puddicombe, Sam Luke

University of Surrey – Hooi Ying Lee, Boulent Imam

Network Rail – Brian Bell

Universidade Do Minho – Helena Gervasio, Paulo Cruz

COWI A/S – Poul Linneberg, Kirsten Eriksen

Lulea Tekniska Universitet – Lennart Elfgren

Part of this report is based on the outcome of questionnaires sent out to Infrastructure Managers (IMs) within the project and through UIC. The following IMs have generously provided the project with information:

VR (Finland)

Deutsche Bahn AG (Germany)

MAV (Hungary)

Trafikverket (Sweden)

TCDD (Turkey)

Network Rail (United Kingdom)




4. Introduction

4.1 Background and motivation

Growth in demand for rail transportation across Europe is predicted to continue. Much of this growth will have to be accommodated on existing infrastructure. This demand will increase both the rate of deterioration of these elderly assets and the need for shorter line closures for maintenance or renewal interventions. Interventions on elderly infrastructure will also need to take into account the need for lower economic and environmental impacts. This presents the need for a tool to be developed which can inform decision makers about the economic and environmental consequences of different intervention options being considered.

Traditionally the main environmental consideration associated with railway operation has been related to reducing noise and vibration, but with the main environmental focus now turning to climate change and the associated carbon agenda, new considerations are becoming increasingly important. In common with many other parts of the built environment, the carbon impact of railway infrastructure is dominated by usage rather than initial construction or ongoing maintenance. In this respect, the railway is already very favourable with emissions in the order of 50g CO2/passenger km, compared to road and air transportation with double or triple these values [1]. However if the railway industry is to play its part in meeting the carbon reduction targets set within Europe, then the carbon impact of infrastructure maintenance and renewal activities will have to be reduced.

The overall aim of WP5 is to create a Life Cycle Assessment Tool (LCAT) that can compare different maintenance and replacement strategies for track and infrastructure based on a life cycle evaluation. The life cycle evaluation shall quantify direct economic costs, availability costs (for example service disruptions) and environmental impact costs. The tool should also take into account target user safety levels in the optimization process.

The present report ‘D5.2 Assessment of environmental performance tools and methods’ will review currently available environmental performance tools and draw conclusions on the most appropriate features and methods to be taken forward into the development of the MAINLINE LCAT. This report will also determine what baseline data exists relating to the environmental performance of railway maintenance and renewal activities by analysing questionnaire responses from several European railway infrastructure managers.

4.2 Scope and objectives

The scope of this report is limited to the environmental impact assessment of railway maintenance and renewal activities. In accordance with the MAINLINE Description of Work, the environmental impact of new construction and railway operations will not be incorporated into the LCAT and is therefore beyond the scope of this report.

The maintenance and renewal activities considered will be those applicable to the following asset types, as selected in Deliverable 2.1:

Cuttings

Metallic Bridges

Lined Tunnels

Track (including rails, sleepers, ballast, switches and crossings)

Other civil engineering structures (including culverts, retaining walls and coastal/river defences)




4.3 Related Projects

For infrastructure systems generally, there are no internationally recognized methodologies for the use of LCA in all phases of such large projects. For railways specifically, due to the diversity of assets that exist on any given network but also due to the very long life spans of the assets and the considerable uncertainties that exist in predicting deterioration, data for LCA applications still needs further research as outlined in the present project for maintenance activities. However, some studies and research projects have dealt with railway infrastructure LCA data, delivering detailed and valuable input such as the EU projects InfraGuidER and SMART Rail, and the Swedish Bothnia Line study. Besides, the Joint Research Center of the European Commission has a web page dedicated to LCA information [2]. The methods and results from these related research projects will be fed into task 5.2 to avoid unnecessary duplication and make use of the most up to date knowledge in the field.

4.3.1 InfraGuidER – Infrastructure Guidelines for Environmental Railway Performance

InfraGuider was a Coordinated Action co-funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework

Programme for Research and Development. The objective of the project was to collect information and knowledge about railway infrastructure and to begin to develop an effective Environmental Impact Evaluation method and tools suitable for the complex railway infrastructure system. The InfraGuidER Report D4 [3] is particularly relevant to this deliverable as it reports on the range of existing environmental management tools, standards and impact assessment tools. Key findings from this report are outlined below:

The result of environmental analyses and assessments can either be a step towards the

quantification of an indicator that describes the environmental performance or be an aid when

interpreting and making a decision on the basis of several competing indicator results. It is this

decision making application of environmental assessment that will be relevant to WP5 of the

MAINLINE project.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is defined as a methodology to assess the entire environmental

consequence of a product or technological or business function from natural resources extraction,

transport, refining processes, production, use, maintenance, waste and recycling systems.

Ecological Footprint (EP) is a specific way to express the LCA result from natural extraction to end

use. The environmental impact categories typically include biodiversity, climate change, land use

and some regional issues.

Carbon Footprint (CF) is a specific way to express the LCA result from natural resource extraction

only.

The choice and definition of the indicators that set the environmental performance is important and

context specific. The ISO standard ISO 14031 Environmental Performance Evaluation [4], [5] gives

a general guideline for the environmental performance evaluation. The Global Reporting Initiative

(GRI) provides a practical list of general and useful performance indicators. One environmental

indicator that describes contribution to climate change is the Carbon Footprint.

As an area for further research, InfraGuidER recommended that all European and national laws that affect railway infrastructure-related activities (construction, maintenance and demolition) should be screened for limiting values. This deliverable will begin to undertake this task, in relation to railway infrastructure maintenance activities.




4.3.2 Bothnia Line – Life Cycle Assessment of railways for application in Environmental Product Declarations

The Bothnia Line, a new Swedish railway running from Nyland to Umea has issued eight Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) covering railway infrastructure and transportation. The purpose of this project was to provide transport buyers, stakeholders and decision makers with objective and reliable information on the environmental impact or all aspects of rail transport [5], [6]. A commercial LCA tool called Eco-KLC was used for the study and several general railway component LCA models were developed, covering various infrastructure assets as well as operational activities:

Railway track foundation

Railway track model

Railway electric power and control system model

Railway tunnel model

Railway bridge model

Railway passenger station and freight terminal model

Railway passenger and freight train model including train operation

This project provides a useful case study of a commercial LCA tool applied to rail, although this project focussed on new build rather than maintenance.

4.3.3 SMART RAIL Project – Smart Maintenance and Analysis of Transport Infrastructure

The SMART Rail project is a 3 year collaborative research project which is running simultaneously with MAINLINE, and also funded through the EU Seventh Framework Programme [7]. The goal of the project is to reduce replacement costs, delay and provide environmentally friendly maintenance solutions for aging infrastructure networks. The project aims to achieve this by developing new methods to analyse and monitor existing transport infrastructure assets in order to make realistic scientific assessments of safety. The engineering assessments of current state will be used to design remediation strategies to prolong the life of existing infrastructure in a cost-effective manner with minimal environmental impact.

Work Package 4 within the SMART RAIL project has the overall objective of creating a model by which railway infrastructure rehabilitation techniques can be assessed economically and environmentally. Within this work package, Task 4.2 will translate input and output inventory data into environmental indicators [7]. LCA analyses will be performed for newly developed technical innovation concepts in order to reduce emissions and other environmental impacts. This may feed into the MAINLINE Project as a source of environmental performance data. The MAINLINE Project will liaise with SMART RAIL in order to share findings and avoid duplication of effort.




4.4 References

[1] MAINLINE 2011, Annex 1 Description of Work [2] The Joint Research Center of the European Commission

http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/index.vm [3] InfraGuidER 2010, D4 Report on the range of existing environmental management tools

environmental standards and environmental impact assessment tools [4] British Standard BS EN ISO 14031 :200 Environmental performance evaluation guidelines [5] The International EPD system http://www.environdec.com/Articles/EPD/EPDs-for-railway-

transports/ [6] Stripple, H. and Uppenberg, S.: "Life cycle assessment of railways and rail transports, IVL,

2010." http://www.botniabanan.se/vitbokmiljo/dokument/5%202%204%20Life%20cycle%20assessment%20of%20railways%20and%20rail%20transports.pdf

[7] Smart Maintenance and Analysis of Transport Infrastructure (SMARTRAIL) 2011, Annex 1 Description of Work, website: http://smartrail.fehrl.org/index.php?m=1

http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/index.vm

http://www.environdec.com/Articles/EPD/EPDs-for-railway-transports/

http://www.environdec.com/Articles/EPD/EPDs-for-railway-transports/

http://www.botniabanan.se/vitbokmiljo/dokument/5%202%204%20Life%20cycle%20assessment%20of%20railways%20and%20rail%20transports.pdf


http://smartrail.fehrl.org/index.php?m=1




5. Environmental dimensions associated with railway maintenance and renewal

5.1 Introduction

Railway assets such as earthworks, tracks, bridges, tunnels and other civil structures require planned interventions throughout their service life in order to maintain the targeted condition, relative to safety issues and in accordance with local legislative regulations. Such interventions might include strengthening works, cleaning, repairs or replacement of minor or major elements, and the wide range of associated activities will have various impacts on the environment. This chapter will present some of the important environmental performance indicators that may be considered when assessing railway maintenance or renewal options.

5.2 Environmental Impact from CO2 Emissions

5.2.1 Impact of Materials and Methods on CO2 Emissions

For construction works, a major contribution to environmental impact comes from raw material acquisition and production of materials such as steel and concrete.

The contributions from different materials and subsystems to the ‘Global Warming’ environmental impact category ‘Global Warming’ are described in Table 5.1 after a so-called "Dominance analysis", extracted from [1]. Materials used in the maintenance phase are similar to materials for new construction. However, some of the materials/subsystems (buildings, stations, explosives etc.) are not relevant for the present study. Furthermore, operation activities including power, signalling and telecom are outside the project scope.

As is evident from Table 5-1 a few materials totally dominate the emissions of CO2 related to production of infrastructure material. Steel and cement together constitute 75 % of the total CO2 emissions. If buildings are included the figure is approximately 85 % as steel and cement also contribute here.

In the Botniabanan project [1] very large and detailed data systems were produced for individual products and processes, involving thousands of data. The outcome of the project was establishment of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for most products and activities involved.

Material/subsystem Track Tunnels Bridges Stations Track

Foundations

Power, signalling,

telecom

Total

Steel 29 4 5 3 3 43

Cement 6 10 11 5 0 32

Buildings 11 11

Aluminium 4 4

Explosives 0 2 1 3




Plastics 0 1 1 1 2

Copper 1 1

Total 35 16 16 11 10 9 97

Table 5-1: Detailed dominance analysis for the contribution in % (decimals not included) of infrastructure material to the environmental impact category Global Warming [2].

In the InfraGuidER project [3], which was aimed at developing data for procurement, a large number of environmental impact areas were included, ranging from impact on bio-diversity, noise, energy and other natural resources, contaminated land, hazardous waste and air emissions. After evaluations and discussions during the project only the most significant environmental impact categories for procurement of materials and components were eventually selected, i.e. climate change (CO2 or CO2-equivalent), hazardous substances and natural resources, see InfraGuidER WP 4 Workshop [3].

This substantiates that CO2 emission or CO2e in the present project is chosen as the prevailing indicator. CO2e includes contributions to Global Warming from other greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxides (N2O) and other gases, the contents multiplied with conversion factors to CO2 equivalents. Other greenhouse gases than CO2 often constitute a minor part but conversion factors are high, e.g. 25 for CH4 and 298 for N2O, seen over a 100 year period [2]. For simplicity and data acquisition purposes, use of CO2 equivalents as Global Warming Potential parameter is recommended.

5.2.2 Comparison of Materials and Methods based on CO2 emissions

LCA screenings, databases or environmental product declarations (EPD) are the basis of the assessment of sustainability of materials and methods. Materials and methods with similar technical specifications can be compared on the basis of environmental and economic parameters - thus enabling the decision-maker to make a sustainable choice of materials and methods.

The choice of sustainable materials and methods must be done based on technical, environmental, social and economic considerations. Discussions in the present chapter concentrate on the environmental aspects. As an example it is shown in Figure 5-1 that detailed product information is required when considering for example the use of concrete in maintenance and renewal activities. It is important to use emission factors from the cement producer delivering to the site of operation, and not average values as are commonly found in data bases.

The example illustrates CO2 emissions per m3 of concrete for a bored tunnel, all options comparative in

performance and thereby service life - however, use of fibres is a special case needing supplementary structural considerations.




Different production methods for materials such as steel and concrete result in different resource use and emissions, for example a higher share of recycled steel gives lower emissions and energy use. In Figure 5-1 average values for traditional steel and steel fibres have been applied. Only the concrete composition and cement types are changed, all within limits set by codes and standards for the actual environment.

5.2.3 Impact of Traffic Disturbances on CO2 emissions

Complete or partial traffic closures due to maintenance or renewal options may have an impact on CO2 emissions from various maintenance options, depending on maintenance or repair times. Effects from alternative routes will typically imply increased energy use and emissions as well as user delays. Effects on CO2 emissions from these considerations might be considered to be included in the MAINLINE LCAT as an input to the environmental assessment.

5.3 Other Environmental Indicators

5.3.1 Waste Management

During the construction of new railways, large volumes of excavation materials and construction and demolition debris are generated. The opportunities for reuse and disposal are typically described in the Environmental Impact Assessment for the construction project. Waste management measures are normally included in the tender specification and implemented by the selected contractor for the works. For maintenance purposes waste management is part of the LCA, measured as the ability to recycle products and waste involved in the specific operation, or alternatively to be placed in landfill areas.

Reference concrete, CEM I, (OPC)

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Cement / binder

Reinforcement or steel fibres

Concrete with fly ash replacing part of cement

Contractor proposal for concrete with fly ash

Concrete with blastfurnace slag cement

Concrete with steel fibres and fly ash

Calculated example of concrete with steel fibres and blastfurnace slag cement

CO2 emission, tonne per m3 of concrete

Figure 5-1: Concrete alternatives for a tunnel for comparative service lives [3]




5.3.2 Water Use

One primary example of extensive water usage in the railway maintenance area is washing of ballast. Another example is usage of water jetting during repair. Any maintenance and renewal work that involves the use of water also has the potential to contaminate surface water drains or controlled waters, for example by using cleaning chemicals. Stringent national regulations are applied across Europe to prevent and allow discharges to controlled water and surface water (as discussed in Chapter 8). National or EU regulations indicate a range of different pollutants and their restrictions on discharges.

5.3.3 Depletion of Natural Resources

The consumption of finite resources such as aggregate for concrete, limestone for cement and iron for steel is another environmental issue. The extraction and use of natural resources has significant influence on the environment. The use of natural resources can be measured (by weight) for different maintenance/renewal options in absolute terms over the entire life cycle and compared between different solutions [4].

5.3.4 Hazardous Substances

Railway maintenance may use a variety of materials which are both hazardous to the environment and human health. Hazardous substances may be contained in various older building components or materials, and the subject requires special consideration when e.g. renewal of parts of older structures takes place during maintenance. Likewise, hazardous substances may be part of maintenance and repair works when special materials and products are applied. EU laws as well as local regulations must be followed.

5.3.5 Noise

Engineering and maintenance work can be noisy due to the type of plant used. Usually the work only lasts for a short period of time, but it is often carried out at night or during weekends which is when noise controls are most stringent. A range of measures might be used to reduce noise impacts for example including noise reduction measures in the planning of engineering and maintenance work and the use of silenced equipment where possible. Noise levels must be kept within local standards and regulations and can only be assessed on a project specific basis.

5.3.6 Ecology

EU regulations exist for protected habitats, and species as birds and wildlife. Railway maintenance will involve interaction with areas of conservation value that may fall under these regulations. Procedures should be established and maintained to protect habitats and wildlife. Ecology as an environmental indicator may be closely related to noise and land pollution. An example of maintenance/repair work that might influence ecology is re-profiling slopes of soil cuttings. Standards and regulations vary depending on location and ecological impacts can therefore only be assessed on a project specific basis.

5.3.7 Land Pollution

Requirements of EU Directives with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage are transposed into national regulations across Europe. Any damage caused by industrial or other activities to land, water and protected habitats and species shall be restored. Activities on site should be carried out in such a way as to avoid pollution incidents. This means that activities should be carried out in accordance with current best practice and other legislation requirements. A primary example of railway maintenance work that may cause land pollution, if no environmental safety measures are introduced is removal of old coating systems on steel bridges. These old coatings may among other things contain a considerable amount of lead. Land contamination is a long-term sustainability issue as cleaning operations may have polluted the land near railways at previous maintenance operations.




5.4 Summary

There are a wide range of maintenance and renewal activities, each with different environmental impacts, ranging from contribution to global warming measured in CO2 equivalents, to noise disturbances in decibel. In summary, Table 5.2 below shows a list of some examples of various environmental indicators associated with a selection of railway maintenance and renewal interventions. It should be noted that the list is non-exhaustive, and a more comprehensive list will be available on completion of Work Packages 1 and 3. In Table 5.2 only the primary environmental dimensions are marked for each maintenance or renewal activity as these would be the factors that could affect decision making.

The LCAT tool to be developed should address those impacts found most relevant for the maintenance and renewal interventions that have been identified in Work Packages 1 and 3, making it possible to compare the environmental impacts of different maintenance and renewal strategies for a given asset or group of assets. Care should be taken when selecting environmental metrics to be used in the tool to allow like to be compared with like, and to ensure that the tool is not made too complex, requiring very detailed data for every material or process.




ASSET TYPE TYPICAL MAINTENANCE AND RENEWAL INTERVENTIONS

CO2 MATERIALS

CO2 PLANT

CO2 TRANSPORT

LANDFILL WASTE

WATER USE DEPLETION OF NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

NOISE & VIBRATION

ECOLOGY

METALLIC BRIDGES

REPLACEMENT OF ENTIRE BRIDGE OR ELEMENTS

X X X X X

STRENGTHENING WITH FRP

X

STRENGTHENING SUBSTRUCTURE WITH CONCRETE

X X X X X X

RENEWAL OF COATING SYSTEM

X X X X

SOIL AND ROCK CUTTINGS

REPROFILE SLOPE X X X X

SOIL NAILING/ROCK BOLTING

X X

RENEWAL OF WILDLIFE FENCES

X X X

RENEWAL/ MAINTENANCE OF DRAINAGE

X X X

CONCRETE AND MASONRY LINED TUNNELS

CONCRETE REPAIR INCL. POSSIBLE BOLT FIXATION

X X X X X X X

RENEWAL, JOINTS AND BEARINGS

X

STRENGTHENING WITH FRP

X

RENEWAL AND/OR MAINTENANCE OF DRAINAGE

X X X




ASSET TYPE TYPICAL MAINTENANCE AND RENEWAL INTERVENTIONS

CO2 MATERIALS

CO2 PLANT

CO2 TRANSPORT

LANDFILL WASTE

WATER USE DEPLETION OF NON-RENEWABLE RESOURCES

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES

NOISE & VIBRATION

ECOLOGY

INJECTION OF CRACKS

X

WASHING OF TUNNEL/BRIDGE

X X

TRACK WASHING BALLAST

X X

REPLACING BALLAST

X X X

MAINTENANCE/ RENEWAL OF SWITCHES AND CROSSINGS

X X X X

IMPROVEMENT OF TRANSITION ZONES / STRENGTHENING OF SUBSOIL

X X X

RENEWAL OF SLEEPERS (CONCRETE, STEEL, TIMBER)

X X X X X

RENEWAL OR GRINDING OF RAILS

X X X X X X X

RENEWAL OF PADS

X

RETAINING WALLS

CONCRETE REPAIRS

X X X X X

STRENGTHENING WITH ADDITIONAL STEEL ANCHORS

X X X X X X X X

RENEWALOF COATING SYSTEM

X X X X

Table 5-2: Summary of environmental impacts associated a selection of railway maintenance and renewal activities




5.5 References

[1] Stripple, H. and Uppenberg, S.: "Life cycle assessment of railways and rail transports, IVL, 2010." http://www.botniabanan.se/vitbokmiljo/dokument/5%202%204%20Life%20cycle%20assessment%20of%20railways%20and%20rail%20transports.pdf

[2] Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor and Miller, H.L. (eds.) Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007 Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and Radioactive Forcing Chapter 2, page 210: http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter2.pdf

[3] InfraGuidER, http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?ID=37243

[4] Kendall, A.: Concrete Infrastructure Sustainability: Life Cycle Metrics, Materials. Dissertation, University of Michigan 2007. http://css.snre.umich.edu/publication/concrete-infrastructure-sustainability-life-cycle-metrics-material-design-and-optimized-



http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg1/ar4-wg1-chapter2.pdf

http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?ID=37243

http://www.transport-research.info/web/projects/project_details.cfm?ID=37243

http://css.snre.umich.edu/publication/concrete-infrastructure-sustainability-life-cycle-metrics-material-design-and-optimized-

http://css.snre.umich.edu/publication/concrete-infrastructure-sustainability-life-cycle-metrics-material-design-and-optimized-




6. Analysis of questionnaire responses

6.1 Introduction

As part of Deliverable 5.3 interviews were carried out with the following European railway Infrastructure Managers (IMs):

VR (Finland)

Deutsche Bahn (Germany)

MAV (Hungary)

Trafikverket (Sweden)

TCDD (Turkey)

Network Rail (United Kingdom)

The questionnaires were devised to obtain information on the LCC and LCA tools that are currently in use, to identify user needs and to establish what gaps there are in the market. The questions on LCA practices are relevant to this present report.

6.2 Summary of Key Findings

The small sample size of just 6 IMs means that it has not been possible to undertake a detailed or quantitative analysis of the responses. In addition, the representative from Trafikverket was unable to provide answers to the LCA section of the questionnaire, so there is only data related to environmental aspects for 5 IMs. However some general trends can be observed in the responses received, providing an insight into the common practises across the surveyed countries. A heat map of the responses is provided in Table 6-1 and the key findings are outlined below:

Only 2 of the 5 IMs questioned currently carry out Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for

maintenance works. The only 2 who do were NR (for tunnels only) and MAV (for large projects

only). Neither use a commercial or specially developed tool for maintenance LCAs.

EIAs are more commonly carried out for renewal works, with 4 out of 5 responding positively to

whether or not they carried them out. Of the respondents only TCDD does not currently carry out

EIAs for renewal works. Further comments suggest that at present these assessments may often

be qualitative in nature, may only be carried out for certain asset types (NR only use it for tunnels

cuttings and bridge renewals) and are most commonly used on large projects. Some identified

metrics that are currently used are CO2, noise, air pollution and waste.

None of the IMs questioned currently used a commercial or specially developed tool for carrying

out maintenance or renewal EIAs.

CO2 is considered to be a highly important environmental impact. 4 out of 5 IMs ranked it as of

high importance, and only TCDD ranked it slightly lower at medium importance.

Waste is generally considered as medium to high importance across the IMs, with only TCDD

ranking it a low importance.

Responses to questions about the importance of different types of LCA tool indicate that sensitivity

analyses are considered more important than probabilistic analyses. In general DB, VR and NR




considered an LCA tool would be more important to them than TCDD and MAV. It should also be

noted that although they did not answer the LCA questions, TV did provide a comment that in

Sweden the tool might be more relevant for the contractors rather than the IM.

The general comments provided by the IMs indicate that water pollution and groundwater issues

are also key areas of concern. TCDD also mentioned that diversity and land pollution were other

environmental areas they considered important.

Full transcripts of the interviews can be found in the report D5.3.




Table 6-1: Heat map of questionnaire responses related to Environmental Impact Assessment

DB VR NR TCDD MAV TV

Germany Finland UK Turkey Hungary Sweden

EIAs carried out for

maintenance?

(Yes/No)

N N Y - Tunnels only

- Not commercial or

specially developed tool

N Y - large projects

- not commercial or specially

developed tool

No data

EIAs carried out for renewals?

(Yes/No)

Y- Waste only

- Not commercial or


Y- especially large projects

- CO2, noise and air pollution

- Not commercial or specially

developed tool

Y- Tunnels, Cuttings and

Bridges

- Not commercial or


N Y- Qualitative assessment

- Not commercial or


No data

Importance of CO2

(High/Medium/Low)

H H H M H No data

Importance of waste

(High/Medium/Low)

H M-H M-H L M No data

Importance of probablistic

analyses

(High/Medium/Low)

H H L-M L L No data

Importance of sensitivity

analyses

(High/Medium/Low)

H H H No data M No data

Other comments Groundwater effects would

also be of interest

Depletion of natural

resources also highly

important

As more data becomes

available probabilistic

analysis will become

more important

Water pollution, land

contamination, noise

pollution and biodiversity

considered important

Water pollution,

particularly groundwater

is highly important

Suggested that in

Sweden the tool would be

more relevant for the

contractors rather than

IM.




7. National and international environmental benchmarking methods and tools

7.1 Introduction

The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of environment assessment methods and tools that are available in buildings and civil engineering sectors, and to assess their applicability to the MAINLINE LCA tool. The following activities are carried out to achieve the aim:

Collate and review the methods and tools applied in the building and civil engineering sectors in Europe and other non-European countries.

Provide an overview of each of the methods and tools available.

The literature survey conducted has identified various methods and tools that have been developed to evaluate the environmental performance of building and civil engineering projects. These methods and tools can be categorised into 3 main groups as follows:

1) Life Cycle Assessment Tools (LCA tools) 2) Environmental Benchmark Assessment Methods 3) Carbon Accounting Tools

The key features of each of these groups are described in the following sections.

7.1.1 Life Cycle Assessment Tools (LCA Tools)

As defined by the ISO EN 14040, life cycle assessment is the compiling and evaluation of the inputs/outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system during a product’s lifetime [1]. LCA techniques are widely applied to various industries, ranging from manufacturing, chemical and energy to construction sectors. Similar to the use of the economical dimension Life Cycle Cost (LCC) for comparing different options, different environmental outcomes over the entire service life for various maintenance and renewal options can be compared.

LCA studies comprise 4 phases; Goal and Scope Definition, Inventory Analysis, Impact Assessment and Interpretation. LCA considers the entire life cycle of a product starting from raw material extraction, through to energy and material production, the use and end of life treatment and its final disposal. It addresses the environmental aspects and impacts of a product system. The economic and social aspects are typically outside the scope of the LCA and hence other tools can be integrated within the LCA tool for wider and more extensive assessments. See Chapter 8 for further understanding of the ISO EN 14040 series standard. [1]

The application of an LCA tool depends on the goal and purpose of an LCA study. In general, LCA tools can be used to: [2]

Identify opportunities to improve the environmental aspects of products over their lifetime at product development and improvement.

Support industries and organisations in strategic planning and policy making.

Assist marketing such as eco-labelling schemes and environmental product declarations.

Assist in selecting relevant environment performance indicators and measurement techniques.

In the construction industry, LCA tools are commonly used to compare different building design alternatives and to assess the environmental impacts of existing buildings [3]. The literature survey conducted found little information about LCA tools used in railway infrastructure maintenance. One of




the few examples is the Sima-Pro LCA tool which has been employed to evaluate environmental impacts of track maintenance for the California High Speed Rail [4].

There are 7 LCA tools relevant to the building and civil engineering sector briefly explained in Section 7.2. Three of the tools (Sima-Pro, GaBI, and TEAM) are commercial licensed tools and have wide applications in various industries. The majority of the assessment approaches used in the LCA tool systems is based on the ISO EN 14040. The following are the key characteristics identified during this task, among the LCA tools reported in this chapter:

Life Cycle Stages: Most of the tools (e.g. GaBI, BEES and ENVEST) are capable of assessing the environmental impacts of a building or product system from material extraction, manufacturing/production, transportation, construction, operation, maintenance to end of life. The WISARD, a waste management LCA tool, focuses on the end-of-life stage of the product only, where it assesses recovery and disposal activities.

Assessment Level: In general, there are two levels of assessments; specific element/component assessment and whole building/product assessment. Whilst the BEES and the Athena Eco-Calculator are specifically developed to evaluate and compare specific component/elements of a building, the ENVEST 2 is designed to model and evaluate the whole building. Other tools such as Sima-Pro, GaBi and TEAM are versatile to do both.

Modelling System Method: The methods to construct the building/product systems can be classified into 2 techniques; process tree modelling and element selection methods. The process tree method constructs the product model by creating individual processes and linking each specific process to form a process tree system. The input and output flows of each process are sourced from the tool’s life cycle inventory database. It gives users the flexibility and transparency to tailor-make their own product systems to suit their purpose. However, the users require a good knowledge of life cycle assessment, product processes as well as material and energy input/output flows. Sima-Pro, GaBI, TEAM and WISARD are the tools using the method (see Figure 7-1).

Figure 7-1: Sima-Pro schematic overview of a process tree [5]

The LCA tools developed specifically for buildings such as BEES, Athena Eco-Calculator and ENVEST 2 adopt the element selection method. It provides the users with a list of pre-defined choices of elements to build the building system. For example, the BEES enable users to select a variety of floor finishes products, from floor nylon tiles to terrazzo (see Figure 7-2). The results of the environmental impacts such as kg CO2 equivalent of global warming have been calculated for each specific element and the value is presented in per square area of unit. It simplifies the complex LCA processes for designing a low environmental impact building and provides opportunities for non-LCA practitioners such as architects, engineers and clients to evaluate different design alternatives or building products. However, the element choices available are generic and assumptions about the material, typical size and composition of an element have to be made. The tools require updating as new product




elements become available in the market. The choices of elements and LCA results in the tools are usually developed for one country/region. Therefore, the use of the tools is restricted to specific countries/regions. For example, different nations have different manufacturing practices, fuel and electric mixes and environment regulations [6]. BEES and Athena Eco-Calculator are used for buildings in the USA and ENVEST 2 is used in the UK.

Figure 7-2: Overview of product alternatives selection in BEES. [7]

Life Cycle Inventory (LCI): LCI is a phase of LCA involving the compilation and quantification of inputs and outputs for a given product system throughout its life cycle [10]. It is the accounting of everything involved in the “system” of interest, inside defined boundaries. It consists of detailed tracking of all the flows in and out of the product system, including raw resources or materials, energy by type, water use, and emissions to air, water and land of specific substances. Inventory data for performing LCA assessments can be obtained from various data bases, though generalised datasets are often not sufficiently precise to local conditions and standards and must be updated locally. Existing data for materials and processes are also available from projects such as Botniabanan and InfraGuidER for railways maintenance operations (see Chapter 4). However these data sources should be evaluated or benchmarked for specific projects, interventions and service lives.

Environmental Impact Categories: The impact assessment phase of LCA is aimed at evaluating the significance of potential environmental impacts by relating life cycle inventory (LCI) results (e.g. CO2 emission) with specific environmental impact categories (e.g. global warming) [1]. The impact assessment methods used by the LCA tools are problem-oriented (midpoint) and damage-oriented (endpoint) approaches. The midpoint approach classifies and characterises the LCI results as belonging to the environmental impacts to which they contribute [8]. Some of the acknowledged impact assessment methods available from this approach are the CML 2001 and BEES methodologies. The common impact categories of these methods are global warming, ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxity, smog and fossil fuel depletion. The damage-oriented method also starts by classifying the LCI results into various impact categories, but the impact categories are also grouped to belong to endpoint categories such as damage to human health, damage to ecosystem quality or damage to resources [2]. The standard assessment methods developed from these approaches include the Eco-indicator 99 and the EPS 2000 methodologies.




Figure 7-3: Impact 2000 methodology as an example to show the approach mechanism [3].

The commercial LCA tools such as Sima-Pro, GaBI and TEAM provide both impact assessment approaches and have a comprehensive selection of widely used impact assessment methods. Among the LCA tools, the midpoint approach is the most widely used approach. The selection of the suitable approach and impact assessment methods is guided by the goal of the LCA study [3]. In general, indicators that are chosen close to the LCI result have a lower uncertainty as only a small part of the environmental mechanism needs to be modelled, while indicators near the endpoint level can have significant uncertainties. However, indicators at the endpoint level are much easier to understand and interpret by decision makers than indicators at midpoint [3].

LCA Result Presentations: All the LCA tools can present the LCA results in graphical charts

and in tabular formats. The following figures show the examples of result presentation.

Figure 7-4: Athena Eco-Calculator tabular summary is showing impact categories values and assemblies, and the pie charts are showing environment performance for building assemblies

against each environment impact category [7].




Figure 7-5: BEES, comparison of environmental impact level (in g CO2/unit) among various finishes alternatives to global warming impact. It also shows the impact level over the life cycle stages of

the alternatives. [6]

Additional Analysis Capabilities: The commercial LCA tools such as Sima-Pro, GaBI, TEAM and WISARD are capable of carrying out sensitivity analysis, Min/Max Analysis and Monte-Carlo Probability Analysis.

Combined LCA/LCC Capability: BEES and ENVEST are LCA/LCC tools. Both tools consider the economic and environmental impacts over the life cycle of the building design/product. BEES measures environmental performance using an LCA approach following the guidance in the ISO EN 14040 standard and the economics are separately evaluated in accordance to the ASTM International standard life-cycle cost approach. These two performance measures are then synthesized into an overall performance measure using Multi-attribute Decision Analysis. The overall performance is measured by point scoring [6]. ENVEST 2 also evaluates the environmental impacts by following the LCA approach and the economic performance by following the life cycle costing approach. However, the environmental impacts and the economic performance results are presented individually. The environmental impact is measured through an Ecopoint scoring system whilst the life cycle cost is measured in net present value in UK pounds.

A brief overview of the LCA tools and a summary table are presented in section 7.2.

7.1.2 Environment Benchmark Assessment Methods

These are performance based assessment methods and are used to rate the environmental performance of building or civil engineering projects for award certification. Their aim is to promote sustainability performance and to recognise the best environmental and social practices in building and civil engineering projects. They cover a broad range of environmental and social aspects ranging from energy efficiency, carbon emission, water resources, ecology, health and wellbeing. There are 7 methods reported in this chapter. The following are the key characteristic of the methods identified:

Most of the methods identified in this task are used to rate building performance.

All the methods consider the environmental performance aspect. Assessment methods such as the SBTool and DGNB assess the performance of buildings in terms of environmental, economic and social aspects.




The methods use weighting scale to allocate scores to various performance criteria. CEEQUAL, LEEDS and BREEAM provide higher weighting towards energy criteria.

The common life cycle stages considered by the methods are in planning, construction and end-of-life.

The Environmental Benchmark Assessment methods and the summary review are presented in section 7.3.

7.1.3 Carbon Accounting Tools

Carbon accounting tools are developed specifically to measure the amounts of carbon dioxide equivalent emission [11]. Recently, the UK Highways Agency and the Environment Agency have developed their own carbon calculators to measure the carbon emitted from construction and maintenance activities. The Highways Agency accounting tool framework follows the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) Standard. The standard is one of the most widely used international accounting frameworks for governments and businesses to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions within their organisation activities. There are 2 accounting tools identified in this task and they are described in section 7.4.

7.2 Overview of Available Life Cycle Assessment Tools

7.2.1 Athena Eco-Calculator for Building Assemblies [7]

Developer Athena Institute Countries Use in Canada and North America

Overall purpose/objective

It can be used to either compare environment impacts of specific assemblies or assess all the assemblies in a building structure, for new construction, retrofits and major renovations building designs.

Tool Format Spreadsheet

Methodology Framework

The specific building assembly in study are selected from one of 7 types of assemblies categories in the tool system such as foundation and footings and column and beams. It covers typical assemblies commonly used by the building industry in Canada and North America only. The studied assemblies are assessed for their whole life cycle impact. The energy flows and material data of the assemblies in the tool database system are sourced from the U.S. Life Cycle Inventory. The assemblies are assessed and compared against a range of impact performance measures. The lower the value, the better the impact performance.

Impact categories Fossil Fuel Consumption (Mega-Joules), Global Warming (kg CO2 equivalent) Acidification Potential (moles of H+ equivalent), Ozone Depletion Potential (mg CFC-11 equivalent), Eutrophication Potential (g N equivalent), Human Health Criteria Air-Mobile (kg PM2.5 equivalent), Smog Potential (kg NOx equivalent) and Weighted Resource Use (tonnes).

Output Format Presented in a summary table and graphical pie charts




7.2.2 Sima-Pro Life Cycle Assessment Tool [5]

Developer Pre-Consultants Countries Use worldwide


A flexible and transparent LCA tool for assessing and comparing the environment performance of products. It is a commercial tool, applied widely to different industries including buildings.

Tool Format Window


Sima-Pro assessment method has been developed according to ISO 14040. In the study, the products are modelled using a process tree, which described the relevant processes, composition of the product and its life cycle. The processes comprise data of environmental flows (e.g. emission to air, water and soil) and economic flows (e.g. input/output or waste from processes).

The processes flows are sourced from the comprehensive Sima-Pro internal database and international recognised Ecoinvent database. They cover processes flows from energy supply, resource extraction, material supply, chemicals, metals, agriculture, waste management services, and transport services.

Impact categories Sima-Pro contains a comprehensive selection of standard impact assessment methods, including BEES, CML 2001, EDP 2007, Eco-indicator 99 and Impact 2000+. These methods belong to either the mid-point approach or end-point approach. The common impact categories of the mid-point approach are global warming, acidification, eutrophication, fossil fuel depletion, ozone depletion, smog and land use. The impact categories for the end-point approach include reduced resources, species extinction, respiratory diseases and seawater level rise.

Output Format Show the results in graphical presentations

7.2.3 BEES (Building for Environment and Economic Sustainability) [6]

Developer National Institute of Standards and Technology Countries North America


It is a multi-dimensional life cycle tool that assesses the environmental and economic impacts over the lifespan of building elements. For the purpose of task 5.2, this report provides the overview of the tool’s life cycle assessment section only. It is used to evaluate and compare environment performance of alternative products.

Tool Format Window





The BEES’s life cycle assessment model follows the guidance of ISO 14040.

The tool processes are aggregated into 3 simplified stages:

Set the study parameters for types of building elements and environment impact weighting methods. Weighting can be allocated to the environment impacts and there are 4 sets of weights; equal weight, pre-defined BEES Stakeholders Panel recommended weight, pre-defined U.S.A Environment Agency Protection Science Advisory Board recommended weight and user-defined weight.

Select the alternative building elements for comparison and specify material transportation to site: It contains environmental performance data for over 230 products across a wide range of building elements including beams, columns, roof sheathing, exterior wall finishes, wall insulation, framing, roof coverings, partitions, ceiling finishes, interior wall finishes, floor coverings, chairs, and parking lot paving. The definition and classification of the building elements are in accordance with ASTM Standard Classification for Building Elements and Related Site-work.

c) View Result: The impact performance results are calculated in score points for each impact categories of the alternative elements. The larger the score, the worse the performance.

Impact categories and metrics

It follows the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI). They are Fossil Fuel Depletion (MJ surplus energy ), Global Warming (g Co2 equivalent), Acidification (mm of H+ equivalent), Ozone Depletion (g CFC-11 equivalent), Eutrophication (g N equivalent), Human Health (g toluene equivalent), Smog (NOx equivalent), Water Intake (litres water), Indoor Air (g Total Volatile Organic Compounds), Habitat (T&E species), Ecological Toxicity (g 2.4-D equivalent) and Criteria Air Pollutants (micro DALY).

Output Format Environment impact results are presented in graphical stacked bar charts for different impact performance measures.

7.2.4 GaBi (Ganzheitlichen Bilanzierung) [2]

Developer PE International Countries Use worldwide


It is a universal LCA tool for assessing sustainability performance of products and processes over its life cycle. Similar to Sima-Pro, it is a commercial LCA tool used widely in different industries including building.

Tool Format Window





GaBI assessment method has been developed according to ISO 14040. In modelling phase, process tree of the product system is constructed. The system is made up of processes and input/output flows. A list of the flows associated with the product system can be selected from the GaBI Internal Database which contains over 4500 dataset for different industries. It also includes choices of other standard databases such as Ecoinvent and U.S Life Cycle Inventory. The environmental impact results can be viewed by selecting the assessment methods and impact categories.


Contains a selection of standard impact assessment methods for both midpoint and endpoint approaches, including CML 2001, EDIP 1997, TRACI, Eco-indicator 99.

Output Format Environment impact results are presented in graphical charts and report.

7.2.5 TEAM (Tools for Environmental Analysis and Management) [8]

Developer Ecobilan Countries Use worldwide


It is a universal LCA tool for assessing environment impacts of products and processes over its life cycle. Similar to Sima-Pro and GaBI, is a commercial LCA tools used widely in different industries including building.

Tool Format Window


TEAM has been developed according to ISO 14040. In modelling phase, process tree of the product system is constructed. The system is made up of processes and input/output flows. A list of the flows associated with the product system can be selected from the DEAM Internal Database which contains comprehensive dataset from various industries. It also includes choices of other standard databases such as Ecoinvent. The environmental impact results can be viewed by selecting the assessment methods and impact categories.


Similar to GaBI and Sima-Pro, it contains a selection of standard impact assessment methods from both midpoint and endpoint approaches, including CML 2001, EDIP 1997, TRACI, Eco-indicator 99.

Output Format Environment impact results are presented in graphical charts and report.

7.2.6 ENVEST 2 [9]

Developer BRE Countries Use in U.K.


ENVEST 2 is a web-based LCA/LCC tool that simplified the complex process of designing buildings with low environmental impact and whole life costs




Tool Format Window


The tool simplified the complex process of assessing building designs through input selection method where the choices of building elements such as external walls and roof covering are selected from the tool database. Envest 2 contains most of the U.K. mainstream building materials. The design model of the building is defined by input parameters such as height and number of storey. Environmental impact is measured by the BRE-developed Ecopoints scoring system. The Ecopoints are calculated for 12 different impact categories ranging from climate change to toxicity, as well as a single Ecopoints building performance score for ease of comparison with the building life cycle cost. The higher the Ecopoints, the worse the environment impacts. The life cycle cost is measured in U.K. Sterling according to the net present value and discounted at 2002 Treasury rates or a discounted rate defined by the user. It allows the environmental and financial trade-offs to be made, enable users to optimise their best value according to their environmental and economic priorities.


12 environment impact categories presented in Ecopoints scoring system; Climate Change, Acid Deposition, Ozone Depletion, Human Toxicity to Air, Smog, Human Toxicity to Water, Eutrophication, Fossil Fuel Depletion, Mineral Extraction, Fossil Fuel Extraction, Water Extraction and Waste Disposal.

Output Format A Summary Totals page provides a breakdown of environment impact Ecopoints and life cycle costs of the building in studied. The Ecopoints and life cycle costs of building also reported in graphs and tabular forms.

7.2.7 WISARD (Waste Integrated Assessment for Recovery and Disposal) [10]

Developer Ecobilan Countries Use in U.K, France and New Zealand.


WISARD is a LCA tool where only the end of life phase of products i.e. waste is subject to investigation. It facilitates the quantification of the environmental impacts of collecting and processing municipal solid waste.

Tool Format Window


Using the life cycle assessment approach, WISARD looks at all aspects of waste management from the point at which the waste leaves the kerbside through to its final disposal route, i.e. gate to grave system boundary. The modelling of the waste process flow system can be constructed graphically using the tool’s graphical user interface or by input data in the project windows. A range of scenarios such as traditional waste collection and glass collection (bring in system) is selected from the tool database. For each of the waste management scenario, various options of waste transport type, haulage routes, the types of containers in which the waste is carried, their waste material composition, transfer facilities and recovery & disposal are specified from the tool database sources. There are 5 recovery and disposal options available i.e. landfill, incineration, sorting-recycling,




composting and anaerobic digestion where user can allocate waste up to two of the recovery and disposal options by specifying the percentage of waste allocation to each option and the total amount to 100%. The tool database system includes data collected on behalf of the countries’ Environment Agency that have been peer-reviewed and Ecobilan derived database DEAM. The system performs a consistency check to determine whether the system is balanced, i.e. input/ output of materials are consistent throughout the model before calculation is run. An environmental calculation (ecobalance) is performed to calculate the environmental impacts of each scenario enabling the user to assess impact issues such as the depletion of non-renewable resources and global warming potentials. Comparisons can be made between different scenarios to determine those scenarios that are more environmentally favourable. The calculation can be carried out through one of the 3 options; normal (generate one set of results), Min/Max (generates 3 sets of results, normal set and lower & upper range) and Monte-Carlo (generates a set of simulations that assumes all of the parameters follow a Gaussian distribution). A number of different graphs are created to assist in the evaluation of results and enabling the user to identify where particular hotspots lie within a scenario.


Contains over 50 methods to assess the potential environmental impacts.

Output Format Results are presented in graphs and tabular format.




7.2.8 Summary Review of LCA Tools

Tool Origin Scope Target Users

Pote

ntial A

pplic

atio

n to

LC

AT

(1)

Lic

en

ce F

ee P

rice

Pro

fessio

nal (P

) &

Acad

em

ic (

A)

Com

bin

ed L

CC

/LC

A to

ol

ISO

EN

140

40 a

nd 1

40

44

Key Features Common Impact Categories

Pro

ce

ss T

ree M

odelli

ng (

T)

or

Ele

me

nt S

ele

ction (

E)

Cre

ate

User-

defin

ed

LC

I D

ata

base

Sensitiv

ity A

naly

sis

Min

/Max A

naly

sis

Mon

te-C

arlo A

naly

sis

Fossil

Fuel D

eple

tio

n

Glo

bal W

arm

ing

Acid

ific

ation

Eutr

ophic

ation

Ozon

e D

eple

tio

n

Hum

an H

ealth

Sm

og

Athena

Eco-Calculator U.S.A Buildings

Designers and Environment consultants

N n/a E x x x x x x x

Sima-Pro Holland All sectors including buildings and rail

Designers, Environment consultants, Manufacturers and Researchers

Y

P - 14,942 Euros (2)

A - 4310 Euros (2)

source: [5]

x T x x x x x x x x

x

x

x

BEES U.S.A. Buildings Designers, Purchasers and Researchers

N n/a x x E x x x x x x x

GaBI Germany

All sectors including buildings

Designers, Environment Consultants, Manufacturers and Researchers

Y Not published x T x x x x x x x x

x

x x

TEAM France

All sectors including buildings

Designers, Environment Consultants, Manufacturers and Researchers

Y

P - 3000 Euros

A - 2000 Euros

source: [8]

x T x x x x x x x x x x x

ENVEST 2 UK Buildings Designers, Environment Consultants and Researchers

N n/a x x E x x x x x x x

WISARD France Waste Management Government local authorities and Researchers

N n/a x T x x x x x x x x x x x

Table 7-1: Summary review of LCA tools

Note (1): Y- There is a potential to use the tools for developing the LCA side of the LCAT tool. N – The tools are specifically developed for building and waste management and unable to be used directly in the development of LCAT tool..

Note (2): Licence fees are converted from British Pound to Euro estimate values. The fees exclude costs associated with maintenance




7.3 Overview of Available Environment Benchmark Assessment Schemes

7.3.1 CEEQUAL (Civil Engineering Environmental Quality Assessment and Awards) [11]

Developer CEEQUAL Ltd. Countries Use in United Kingdom and Ireland

Also available in an international version

Date of launched 2003 Scope Civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and public realm projects


CEEQUAL is an assessment and award scheme for promoting and improving sustainability in civil engineering and public realm projects. It measures and assesses the performance of a project in design and construction against best environmental and social practices, and it recognizes the achievement of the project through award certification.


The assessments are conducted using the Scheme’s On-line Assessment Tool. There are 4 key stages of the assessment method:

a) Scoping out: Determine environmental and social agendas to be assessed. Identification and agreement of assessment questions to be used from the Scheme’s 180 standard questions.

b) Self-assessment: Scores are allocated to the questions, based on evidence gathered and following the scheme assessment rules and guidelines.

c) Verification process: Reviewed by an independent Verifier, including verification visit to the project site.

d) Ratification and Award: The completed assessment is submitted for ratification. Award is awarded based on the scheme grades and the total scores achieved; Pass (over 25% scores), Good (over 40% scores), Very Good (over 60% scores) and Excellent (over 75% scores).

Environment Benchmark Criteria

The Scheme has 12 environmental and social categories. They are listed with its weighting: Project Management (10.9%), Energy and Carbon (9.5%), Material Use (9.4%), Ecology & Biodiversity (8.8%), Water Resource and Water Environment (8.5%), Waste Management (8.4%), Transport (8.1%), Land Use (7.9%), Landscape (7.4%), Relation with the Local Community and Other Stakeholders (7.4%), Effects on Neighbours (7.0%) and The Historic Environment (6.7%)

Output Format Pass, Good, Very Good or Excellent award certification to the project.




7.3.2 BREEAM (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method) [12]

Developer Building Research Establishment (BRE) Global Ltd.

Countries Use in United Kingdom, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, International

Date of launched 1990 Scope Commercial buildings (offices, industrial, retail);

Public (non-housing) (education, healthcare, prisons, law courts);

Multi-residential accommodation (residential care home, sheltered accommodation, residential school, etc);

Other (residential institutions, non-residential institutions, assembly and leisure, other);

Communities


BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design, construction and operation. A BREEAM assessment uses recognised measures of performance, which are set against established benchmarks, to evaluate a building’s specification, design, construction and use. A certificate is delivered by a licensed organisation at various stages in a buildings life cycle.


The BREEAM assessment process comprehends the evaluation of a building’s performance against the selected scheme and its criteria.

This assessment is made by an independent third party auditor (the BREEAM Assessor).

The BREEAM certificate is issued by the National Scheme Operator (NSO - BRE Global in the UK). This certificate provides formal verification that the Assessor has completed an assessment of a building in accordance with the requirements of the scheme and its quality standards and procedures.

The BREEAM rating benchmarks for new construction projects are as follows: Outstanding (≥85% scores), Excellent (≥70% scores), Very good (≥55%), Good (≥45% scores), Pass (≥30) and Unclassified (<30% scores).


The BREEAM New Construction scheme consists of forty nine individual assessment issues divided by the nine environmental categories, plus an additional tenth category called ‘innovation’. The weightings for each of the environmental sections are: Management (12%), Health & Wellbeing (15%), Energy (19%), Transport (8%), Water (6%), Materials (12.5%), Waste (7.5%), Land Use & Ecology (10%), Pollution (10%) and Innovation (additional 10%)

(Note: weighting values vary according to the assessment scheme)

Output Format Unclassified, pass, good, very good, excellent and outstanding award certification to the project.




7.3.3 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) [13]

Developer U.S. Green Building Council

Countries Use in U.S.A.

Also available in other countries worldwide (international version)

Date of launched 2000 Scope New Construction, Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, Commercial Interiors, Core & Shell, Schools, Retail, Healthcare, Homes, Neighbourhood Development.


LEED certification is an award scheme that provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.


It is mandatory to register the project with GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute) in order to achieve a LEED certification. Registration may be made online.

The applicant project must satisfy all the prerequisites and qualify for a minimum

number of points to attain the established project ratings as listed below.

LEED certification is awarded by the Green Building Certification Institute upon verification of the project.

Award is awarded based on the total number of points achieved by the project: certified (40-49 points), silver (50-59 points), gold (60-79 points) and platinum (80-110 points).


The rating system is organized into 5 environmental categories plus 2 additional categories of innovation and regional priority. A maximum of 100 points may be awarded, plus 10 bonus credits, four of which address regionally specific environmental issues: sustainable sites (26 max. points), water efficiency (10 max. points), energy and atmosphere (35 max. points), materials and resources (14 max. points), indoor environmental quality (15 max. points), innovation in design (6 max. points), regional priority (4 max. points).

(Note: maximum points in each category vary according to the assessment scheme)

Output Format Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum award certification to the project.

7.3.4 SBTool (Sustainable Building Tool) [14]

Developer iiSBE – International Initiative for a

Countries Canada but also used in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Israel,

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=220













Sustainable Built Environment

South Korea, Taiwan

Date of launched 2002 Scope New and existing buildings


SBTool is used to assess the potential energy and environmental performance of the project in the Green Building Challenge process. A unique feature of this award scheme is that it is designed from the outset to allow users to reflect the very different priorities, technologies, building traditions and even cultural values that exist in various regions and countries.


The assessment is made in 2 linked Excel files and a potential third file:

SBT-A is used by regional third-party organizations to set locally relevant weights, benchmarks and standards;

These are used in two separate generic assessment modules; one for Site Assessment and the other for Building Assessments;

SBT-B allows designers to provide information about a single project with up to 3 of the occupancies defined in (A), to use the Integrated Design Process steps as design guidance and to carry out self-assessments;

SBT-C is used by independent assessors to carry out third party assessments, based on the data entered in the A and B files. The third-party assessor can modify or accept the self-assessment.


The assessment of a project consists of seven general performance issues: site selection, project planning and urban design; energy and resource consumption; environmental loadings; indoor environmental quality; service quality; social and economic aspects; cultural and perceptual aspect.

Depending on the scope of the analysis the system can be modified ranging from 125 criteria to half a dozen.

Output Format The scoring of SBTool varies from -1 to 5: -1, 0 (minimum), 1 , 3 (good practice) and 5 (best practice)

7.3.5 DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen) [15]

Developer The German sustainable building council and Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs.

Countries Use in Germany

Launched date 2009 Scope Buildings


The main objective of the DGNB award scheme is to point out advance paths and solutions for sustainable building, including the planning of buildings, construction and operation.


The assessment is conducted based in a list of topics and the criteria for sustainable construction that are included within that list. These criteria

are weighted differently, depending on the building type to be evaluated. Thus,




each variation of the system, or each building type, has its own evaluation matrix.


The assessment scheme takes into account six major categories: ecological quality (22.5%), economical quality (22.5%), socio-cultural and functional quality (22.5%), technical quality (22.5%), process quality (10%) and quality of the location (not included in the final grade). These categories are disaggregated into 49 individual criteria, which represent all relevant topics of sustainable

construction.

Output Format Gold (80%), silver (65%) or bronze (50%) award certification to the project.

7.3.6 CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) [16]

Developer Japan Sustainable Building Consortium

Countries Use in Japan

Launched date 2002 Scope Buildings (residential and non-residential) and urban (town and city development)


CASBEE is a system for the comprehensive environmental assessment throughout the life cycle of the building taking into account two major aspects: (i), the environmental quality (Q) to be enhanced through its service performance, amenity, etc; and (ii) the environmental loads (L) to be reduced through energy and resource saving, etc.

The system was developed taking into consideration issues and problems peculiar to Japan and Asia.


The environmental label in CASBEE is evaluated by the indicator Built Environment Efficiency (BEE) using Q and L as the two assessment categories.

BEE is calculated from Q as the numerator and L as the denominator.

The higher the Q value and the lower the L value, the steeper the gradient and the more sustainable the building is.


The environmental quality (Q) is divided into three items for assessment: Q1 Indoor environment, Q2 Quality of services and Q3 Outdoor environment on site. Similarly, the environmental load (L) is divided into L1 Energy, L2 Resources & Materials and L3 Off-site Environment. These items are further divided into a large number of criteria.

Output Format The CASBEE assessment is ranked in five grades: poor (class C), slightly poor (class B

-), Good (class B

+), Very good (class A) and Superior (class S).




7.3.7 HQE (Haute Qualité Environnementale) [17]

Developer Association pour la Haute Qualité Environnementale

Countries Use in France

Launched date 1992 Scope Buildings


HQE is a 3rd party audited global approach designed to improve the environmental quality of the built environment. HQE helps contracting authorities, architects, manufacturers and entrepreneurs create healthy and comfortable indoors environments for their clients.


The HQE certification schemes vary depending on the building type assessed: (i) the certification of office, commercial buildings, hotels, healthcare, hospitals, logistics centres, etc., is made by Certivéa, and the certificate is called “NF Bâtiments Tertiaires – Démarche HQE”;

(ii) the certification of single family houses is managed by CEQUAMI, and the certification is called “NF MaisonIndividuelle – Démarche HQE”;

(iii) the certification of multi-residential buildings is managed by CERQAL, and the certification is called “NF Logement – Démarche HQE”.

The system comprises both management items (Système de Management de l'Opération SMO) and quality assurance of the building (Qualité Environnementale du Bâtiment QEB). SMO supports management during all design and construction stages, while the assessment of the building QEB is based on 14 targets as described below.


The assessment is based on 14 un-weighted areas divided into four main categories: Eco – Design and Eco – Construction (relationships of the building with its close environment; integrated choice of products, systems and construction processes; and low nuisance building sites); Eco – management (energy management, water management, waste management and maintenance management), Comfort for users (hydrothermal comfort, acoustic comfort, visual comfort and odorous comfort) and Health for users (sanitarian quality of spaces, sanitarian quality of air and sanitarian quality of water)

Output Format Within one subcategory three types of classifications are possible: (i) B Base (basic: regulation level or normal practice); (ii) P Performant (good practice, better than basic); and (iii) TP Très performant (best practice, comparable to the best projects in the country).

To achieve a HQE certificate a “minimum profile” is required: (i) TP in at least three sub-categories; (ii) P in at least four sub-categories; (iii) B in 7 sub-categories (at most); and (iv) P or TP in subcategory “energy management”.




7.3.8 Summary Review of Assessment Systems

Origin Launched date

Scope Assessment

Topics covered Life-cycle stages

Grades

Environm

enta

l

Econom

ic

Socia

l

Oth

ers

Pla

nnin

g S

tage

Constr

ictio

n

Sta

ge

Opera

tio

n/u

se

End-o

f-lif

e S

tage

CEEQUAL U.K. 2003

Civil engineering, infrastructure, landscaping and public realm projects

Trained assessors

x x x x x Pass, Good, Very good, Excellent

BREEAM U.K. 1990 Buildings and communities

Trained assessors

x x x x

Pass, Good, Very good, Excellent, Outstanding

LEED U.S.A. 2000 Buildings and neighbourhood development

US-GBCI x x x x x Certified, Silver, Gold, Platinum

SBTool Canada 2002 Buildings Trained assessors

x x x x x x Minimum, Good, Best

DGNB DE 2009 Buildings Auditor x x x x x x Gold silver bronze

CASBEE Japan 2002 Buildings and urban development

- x x x

Poor, Slightly poor, Good, Very good, Superior

HQE France 1992 Buildings Auditor x x x x

Base, Performant, Très performant

Table 7-2: Summary review of assessment systems






7.4 Overview of Available Carbon Accounting Tools

7.4.1 Highway Agency Carbon Calculator for Major Projects [18]

Developer Parson Brinckerhoff Ltd Countries Used in United Kingdom


HA implements the carbon accounting system to quantify the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from its internal operation, construction and maintenance activities. Several carbon calculator tools have been developed for different business areas. One of these, the Carbon Calculator for Major Projects, is used to calculate the carbon emission for its major highways construction and maintenance projects.

Tool Format Excel Spreadsheet


The HA carbon accounting methodology is based on the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) Protocol – Corporate and Project Accounting and Reporting Standards and it comprises the following phases:

a) Setting organisational boundaries: It covers the GHG emitted from the Project’s Contractor and Subcontractors.

b) Setting operational boundaries: Major Project is one of the HA business areas, included in the operational boundary. It covers project related activities (site office, mobile plants, construction materials and energy resources, site transportations and waste removal).

c) Identification of emission sources: The emission sources associated with construction and maintenance activities are: Energy (electricity, gas and water), Construction Materials (materials and transportation to site), Transport (fuel transportation to site, travelling within site and staff commuting to site) and Waste Removal (construction and site office waste transportation for disposal).

d) Select emission calculation approach: Emission factor method is applied to calculate the amount of GHG emission. Emission factor is a numerical value to convert measure of activity consumption from an emission source to an amount of CO2 equivalent emitted.

e) Selecting emission factors: Most of the emission factors are sourced from publications related to U.K construction industry. They are the University of Bath Inventory Carbon Emission (ICE), U.K Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Guidance of GHG Conversion Factors and U.K Environment Agency Carbon Calculator for Construction Activities.

f) Apply calculation tools and rolled up to organisation level

Measure of consumption data are collated and input into the carbon calculator. The GHG emissions from each major project is reported and aggregated to the HA final carbon account.


GHG gasses emission considered are Carbon Dioxide CO2, methane CH4, Nitrous Oxide N2O, Sulphur Hexafluoride SF6, Perfluorocarbons PFCs and Hydroflourocarbons HFCs, and the metric used is CO2 equivalent.

Output Format Results presented in tabular form and a graphical bar chart, showing tonnage of carbon emission for each emission categories (energy, material, transport and waste) and the total.




Figure 7-6: Overview of HA Carbon Calculator Spreadsheet [18]

7.4.2 Environment Agency (EA) Carbon Calculator for Construction Activities [19]

Developer Environment Agency and Jacob Countries Use in United Kingdom


Assessing and comparing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different design alternatives, and calculating GHG emission from construction projects to identify opportunities for reduction. It is applied to EA’s fluvial and coastal construction projects. However, potentially it can be applied to other construction sectors.

Tool Format Excel Spreadsheet


Similar to HA Carbon Calculator, the emission factor method is applied for calculating the amount of GHG emission and they are sourced from the University of Bath Inventory Carbon Emission (ICE) and the DEFRA Guidance of GHG Conversion Factors. The types of emission sources are Energy for Plants and Equipments, Energy for Site Accommodation, Construction Material, Fuel used in Material Transportation, Fuel used by Staff Travelling to Site and Waste Disposal.


The tool solely considered the GHG gasses emission and the emission is expressed in CO2 equivalent.




Output Format The total amount of GHG emission is presented in tabular form and a graphical bar chart, showing tonnage of carbon emission for each emission sources.

7.5 Comparison and Applicability Assessment of Environmental Assessment Tools and Methods

There are 3 groups of environmental assessment tools identified here, i.e. life cycle assessment (LCA) tools, carbon accounting tools and the environment benchmark assessment tools. In this section, the general aspects of these groups are compared to understand their similarities and differences. In addition, the applicability of these groups to the MAINLINE Project will be assessed against a set of criteria based on the MAINLINE Description of Works (DOW). These are to support the subsequent analysis and conclusion chapter in determining the most appropriate form of environment assessment tool for LCAT.

7.5.1 Comparison of General Aspects of the Groups of Tools and Methods

Life Cycle Assessment Tools

Benchmark Assessment Methods

Carbon Accounting Tools

Forms of evaluation

Quantitative, calculate the amount of impacts and present the results

in values to support decision making.

Qualitative, assess the performance of a project through a set of criteria,

normally in questionnaire form. The results are rated using weighting method,

reflecting the judgement of the assessors based on evidences gathered. The

performance achieved by a project is presented using

grading system.

Quantitative, calculate the amount of impacts and

present the results in values to support decision making.

Topics covered environment environment, social and economics

greenhouse gases only

Life cycle stages covered

cradle-to-grave (except WISARD focus on end-

of-life stage)

Most of the methods covered planning and

construction stages. None covered operation/use

stages

cradle-to-grave

Deterministic/ probabilistic

analysis approach

Both Not applicable Deterministic

Current application in railway

infrastructure projects

Limited case studies (e.g. Bothnia Line and

California HSR)

CEEQUAL only, with some case studies (e.g.

Thameslink New Borough Viaducts, Crossrail, London Overground East London

Line)

Not known

Compliance with International

standard

Most of the LCA tools in accordance to the ISO

14040 and 14044

Not applicable HA carbon calculator compliance with the

Greenhouse Gases Protocol: Corporate and Accounting

Reporting




7.5.2 Applicability Assessment of Environmental Assessment Tools and Methods

Criteria for the LCAT tool based on the MAINLINE Description of Work (DoW)

Life Cycle Assessment Tools

Benchmark Assessment Methods


Able to quantify and assess impact of carbon

emission?

Yes No in general, most of the assessment

methods do not quantify the amount of carbon

emission

Yes

Able to quantify and assess impacts of other environment benefits?

Yes No in general, most of the assessment

methods do not quantify the amount of other

environment impacts

No

Able to quantify environment impacts life

cycle costs?

No No No

Able to compare different

strategies/alternative options based on life

cycle evaluation?

Yes No Yes

Able to analyse whole life cycle stages, from

cradle-to-grave?

Yes No Yes

Able to be used to identify environment

impact drivers?

Yes No Yes, limited to factors influencing greenhouse gases emission only.




7.6 References

[1] ISO EN 14040:2006 Environment management: principles and framework. [2] GaBi Education: Handbook of life cycle assessment – September 2010 edition

(http://www.gabi-software.com/uk-ireland/index/). [3] Davis Langdon, Life cycle costing (LCC) as a contribution to sustainable construction: A

common methodology – Literature review, May 2007 (http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/construction/studies/life-cycle-costing_en.htm).

[4] M.Chester and A.Hovarth, Life cycle of high speed rail: The case of California, Environment Research Letters 5 (2010) 014003 (http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-

9326/5/1/014003/fulltext/). [5] Sima-Pro 7: Introduction into LCA – November 2010 edition (http://www.simapro.co.uk/). [6] BEES Building for Environment and Economic Sustainability

(http://www.nist.gov/el/economics/BEESSoftware.cfm). [7] Athena Eco-calculator for assemblies: Inner working synopsis – January 2011 edition

(available from http://www.athenasmi.org). [8] TEAM Tool for Environmental Analysis and Management: User’s Manual – 2004 edition

(https://www.ecobilan.com/uk_team03.php). [9] ENVEST 2 (http://envestv2.bre.co.uk/help). [10] WISARD Waste Integrated Assessment for Recovery and Disposal: Reference Guide –

March 2012 edition (http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/tool2.vm?tid=190). [11] CEEQUAL The Assessment and Awards Scheme for improving sustainability in civil

engineering and the public realm - Scheme Description and Assessment Process Handbook. August 2010 (Matching Version 4.1 for Projects (www.ceequal.com)

[12] BREEAM New construction. Non-domestic Buildings. Technical Manual SD5073 – 2.0:2011 (http://www.breeam.org/page.jsp?id=109).

[13] LEED 2009 for new construction and major renovations rating system with alternative compliance paths for projects outside the U.S. - USGBC Member Approved November 2008 (Updated November 2011) (http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19).

[14] Nils Larsson, N. and Macias, M. Overview of the SBTool assessment framework

(http://www.iisbe.org).

[15] DGNB – German Sustainable Building Council. 2001. Excellence defined. Sustainable

building with a systems approach. 1st edition (http://www.dgnb.de/). [16] CASBEE for new construction. Technical manual (2010 edition). Japan Sustainable

Building Consortium (http://www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/download.htm). [17] Mötzl, H. and Fellner, M. 2011. Environmental and health related criteria for buildings.

Final Report (March 2011). Austrian Institute for Healthy and Ecological Building, Wien, Austria (www.anec.eu/attachments/ANEC-R&T-2011-ENV-001final.pdf).

[18] Highway Agency Carbon Calculator Tool: Instruction manual for major projects v.5c – December 2009 (http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/31530.aspx).

[19] Environment Agency Carbon Calculator for Construction Activities (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/136252.aspx).

http://www.gabi-software.com/uk-ireland/index/

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/construction/studies/life-cycle-costing_en.htm

http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/1/014003/fulltext/

http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/5/1/014003/fulltext/

http://www.simapro.co.uk/

http://www.nist.gov/el/economics/BEESSoftware.cfm

https://www.ecobilan.com/uk_team03.php

http://envestv2.bre.co.uk/help

http://lca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/lcainfohub/tool2.vm?tid=190

http://www.ceequal.com/

http://www.breeam.org/page.jsp?id=109

http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19

http://www.iisbe.org/

http://www.dgnb.de/

http://www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/download.htm

http://www.anec.eu/attachments/ANEC-R&T-2011-ENV-001final.pdf

http://www.highways.gov.uk/business/31530.aspx

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/136252.aspx




8. Environmental Regulations and Standards

8.1 Introduction

This chapter provides an overview of the key current and proposed regulations and standards which may apply to railway maintenance and renewal. The review has focused on EU law, regulations and standards as uses English Domestic laws as an illustrative example of how the regulations might be applied at a national level. The key requirements of each document have been reviewed in order to identify any relevant metrics and potential impact on the whole life cost of railway infrastructure assets.

The remainder of this chapter presents a summary of the legislation, regulations and standards under the following aspects of environmental performance to which they relate to:

waste management

air quality

water

hazardous substances

noise

land pollution

ecology

LCA standards

Further details of each Directive and standard, as well as lists of references can be found in the tables in Appendix A. The tables also present details of the relevant Domestic Acts and Regulations that have been implemented in the UK as a result of each Directive. These are provided as an illustrative example of how the directives are transposed into national law.

8.2 Waste Management

Railway maintenance and renewal will generate controlled waste, which will need to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98, which sets requirements for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste.

In the cases when hazardous waste is generated, it must be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the European Hazardous Waste Directive 91/689/EC and European Waste Catalogue 2000/532/EC. These regulations may necessitate the use of a licensed waste carrier, the completion of consignment notes and the maintenance of an inventory of hazardous wastes on site.

EU Landfill Directive (1999/311/EC) has resulted in national landfill regulations being applied for example The Landfill Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/924) in England. Under this regulation landfill tax is generally automatically added to the bill made by the waste management company. In order to reduce the costs of waste disposal, it should be ensured that active, inactive and exempt wastes are separated so that excessive charges are not incurred. Opportunities to eliminate waste and disposing of waste via other means than to landfill should be periodically re-evaluated.

8.3 Global Warming

EC Regulation on Certain Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (EC/842/2006) has the principal objective to contain, prevent and thereby reduce emissions of F-gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. The containment and recovery articles in the Regulation will have an impact on the commercial refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump sectors and in the fire protection sector; and for the personnel involved in the installation,




servicing and recovery of F-gases from these systems as well as from equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gas based solvents, high voltage switchgear and fire extinguishers. F-gases include Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6). Where railway maintenance uses fire suppression equipment, refrigeration and heat pumps on the site, and if systems contain more than 3 kg of relevant gases the guidance below is relevant for compliance:

The Kyoto Protocol requires the 15 countries that were EU members at the time ('EU-15') to reduce their collective emissions in the 2008-2012 period to 8% below 1990 levels. In 2007 EU leaders endorsed an integrated approach to climate and energy policy and committed to transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low carbon economy. This commitment is being implemented through a package of legally binding national targets, under which each of the EU-15 Member States have taken on agreed national emissions reduction or limitation targets, as outlined in Table 8-1.

Target for 2008-2012

(change from base year)

Austria -13%

Belgium -7.5%

Denmark -21%

Finland 0%

France 0%

Germany -21%

Greece +25%

Ireland +13%

Italy -6.5%

Luxembourg -28%

Netherlands -6%

Portugal +27%

Spain +15%

Sweden +4%

United Kingdom -12.5%

EU-15 -8%

Table 8-1: EU-15 quantified emission limitation or reduction commitments for 2008-2012 [1]

As can be seen from Table 8-1 current emissions target levels vary across Member States, and IMs in those countries with large reduction targets maybe more interested in quantifying emissions than others at present.

Looking further into the future, the EU has made a unilateral commitment to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions from its 27 current Member States by at least 20% of 1990 levels by 2020 [1]. The 20% reduction commitment is a key factor in the Europe 2020 Strategy and is embodied in the ‘climate and energy package’ of binding legislation which sets Annual Emissions Allocations (AEAs) for the period 2013-2020. The AEAs are expressed in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) and a draft decision on the values was made on 17

th October 2012. The draft AEA values, as well as cumulative % changes for the

period 2013-2020 are presented in Table 8-2 below.




Table 8-2: Member States Annual Emissions Allocation for the year 2013 to 2020 (draft values published on 17

th October 2012) Source data obtained from [2]

The Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity (2003/96/EC) is a directive that has been put in place to help achieve these emissions targets. It consists in an EU-wide system of minimum taxation rates which Member States must apply to energy products when used as motor or heating fuels and electricity [3]. Whilst the directive gives common minimum values, the actual rates applied vary by country. Such taxation creates a driver for maintenance and renewal activities to be undertaken in an energy efficient way to avoid excess energy costs being incurred.

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

81206753 79635010 78063267 76491523 74919780 73348037 71776293 70204550

-1.94% -3.87% -5.81% -7.74% -9.68% -11.61% -13.55%

27308615 27514835 27721056 27927276 28133496 28339716 28545936 28752156

0.76% 1.51% 2.27% 3.02% 3.78% 4.53% 5.29%

63569006 64248654 64928302 65607950 66287597 66967245 67646893 68326541

1.07% 2.14% 3.21% 4.28% 5.35% 6.41% 7.48%

35873692 34996609 34119525 33242442 32365359 31488276 30611193 29734110

-2.44% -4.89% -7.33% -9.78% -12.22% -14.67% -17.11%

487095510 480020642 472945774 465870905 458796037 451721169 444646301 437571432

-1.45% -2.90% -4.36% -5.81% -7.26% -8.71% -10.17%

6111145 6133644 6156143 6178641 6201140 6223639 6246137 6268636

0.37% 0.74% 1.10% 1.47% 1.84% 2.21% 2.58%

45163667 44066074 42968480 41870887 40773293 39675700 38578106 37480513

-2.43% -4.86% -7.29% -9.72% -12.15% -14.58% -17.01%

58909882 59158791 59407700 59656609 59905518 60154427 60403336 60652245

0.42% 0.85% 1.27% 1.69% 2.11% 2.54% 2.96%

228883459 226977713 225071967 223166221 221260475 219354728 217448982 215543236

-0.83% -1.67% -2.50% -3.33% -4.16% -5.00% -5.83%

397926454 393291390 388254953 383218516 378182079 373145642 368109206 363072769

-1.16% -2.43% -3.70% -4.96% -6.23% -7.49% -8.76%

20596027 20761917 20927807 21093696 21259586 21425476 21591366 21757255

0.81% 1.61% 2.42% 3.22% 4.03% 4.83% 5.64%

310124250 308146930 306169610 304192289 302214969 300237649 298260329 296283008

-0.64% -1.28% -1.91% -2.55% -3.19% -3.83% -4.46%

5552863 5547275 5541687 5536100 5530512 5524924 5519336 5513749

-0.10% -0.20% -0.30% -0.40% -0.50% -0.60% -0.70%

9005483 9092810 9180137 9267464 9354791 9442119 9529446 9616773

0.97% 1.94% 2.91% 3.88% 4.85% 5.82% 6.79%

16661613 16941467 17221321 17501174 17781028 18060882 18340736 18620590

1.68% 3.36% 5.04% 6.72% 8.40% 10.08% 11.76%

9737871 9535962 9334053 9132144 8930235 8728326 8526417 8324508

-2.07% -4.15% -6.22% -8.29% -10.37% -12.44% -14.51%

49291591 50388303 51485014 52581726 53678437 54775149 55871861 56968572

2.22% 4.45% 6.67% 8.90% 11.12% 13.35% 15.57%

1113574 1112781 1111988 1111195 1110402 1109609 1108816 1108023

-0.07% -0.14% -0.21% -0.28% -0.36% -0.43% -0.50%

121835387 119628131 117420874 115213617 113006361 110799104 108591847 106384590

-1.81% -3.62% -5.44% -7.25% -9.06% -10.87% -12.68%

53598131 53032042 52465953 51899864 51333775 50767686 50201597 49635508

-1.06% -2.11% -3.17% -4.22% -5.28% -6.34% -7.39%

197978330 198929081 199879833 200830584 201781336 202732087 203682838 204633590

0.48% 0.96% 1.44% 1.92% 2.40% 2.88% 3.36%

47653190 47920641 48188091 48455541 48722992 48990442 49257893 49525343

0.56% 1.12% 1.68% 2.24% 2.81% 3.37% 3.93%

79108341 80681687 82255034 83828380 85401727 86975074 88548420 90121767

1.99% 3.98% 5.97% 7.96% 9.94% 11.93% 13.92%

11890136 11916713 11943289 11969866 11996442 12023018 12049595 12076171

0.22% 0.45% 0.67% 0.89% 1.12% 1.34% 1.56%

25095979 25413609 25731240 26048870 26366500 26684130 27001761 27319391

1.27% 2.53% 3.80% 5.06% 6.33% 7.59% 8.86%

32732387 32232553 31732719 31232885 30733051 30233217 29733383 29233549

-1.53% -3.05% -4.58% -6.11% -7.64% -9.16% -10.69%

42526869 41863309 41199748 40536188 39872627 39209066 38545506 37881945

-1.56% -3.12% -4.68% -6.24% -7.80% -9.36% -10.92%

350411692 346031648 341651604 337271559 332891515 328511471 324131426 319751382

-1.25% -2.50% -3.75% -5.00% -6.25% -7.50% -8.75%

Slovenia

Slovakia

Finland

Sw eden

United Kingdom

Netherlands

Austria

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Latvia

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Hungary

Malta

Spain

France

Croatia

Italy

Cyprus

Denmark

Germany

Estonia

Ireland

Greece

Annual Emission Allocation

(Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent/ and cumulative % change)Country

Belgium

Bulgaria

Czech Republic




The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Directive 1999/23/EC as amended by Directive 2005/33/EC, European Communities Act 1972 sets regulations which impose limits on the amount of sulphur contained in both fuel oil and gas oil. In order to undertake railway maintenance, oil is likely to be used on site. Any oil stored on site should be checked to ensure that the sulphur content is within legal parameters.

EC Regulation on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (EC/1005/2009) is aimed at phasing-out the use of ozone depleting chemicals. The EC directive is directly applicable in UK legislation and relates to the control of a number of substances that are known to deplete the ozone layer. The regulations affect users, producers, suppliers, maintenance and service engineers and those involved with the disposal of ozone depleting substances (ODS). Key substances affected by the regulations include: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), HCFC Blends, Solvents: CFC (113), 1,1,1-trichloromethane, bromochloromethane (CBM); Foam blowing agents: HCFCs and fire fighting fluids. This legislation will be applicable to railway maintenance where for example fire suppression equipment, refrigeration and heat pumps are used on site. The Regulations set out offences and penalties for those who carry out relevant work without being suitably qualified and/or who employ non-competent people to carry out work with ODS/methyl bromide without holding the specified minimum qualifications.

8.4 Air Quality

Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management (the Air Quality Framework Directive) requires comprehensive planning for land use and air quality. In the UK this has been transposed into Air Quality Standards Regulations. Such regulations mean that if railway maintenance and renewal is undertaken in Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) there may be restrictions to the concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere and mitigation or monitoring may be required to meet the air quality requirements.

Directive 97/68/EC sets regulations on emission standards for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and - for diesel engines - particulate matter. If any non-road mobile machinery is used as part of railway maintenance and renewal, it should be ensured that the regulations above are complied with.

8.5 Water

The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) is concerned with the prevention of water pollution and control of water use. Related national legislation will apply to any maintenance and renewal work that involves the use of water or substances which have the potential to contaminate surface water drains or controlled waters, for example cleaning chemicals. In England for example there are stringent regulations applied to prevent and allow discharges to controlled water and surface water throughout the country. The regulations indicate a range of different pollutants and their restrictions on discharges. It is prohibited to discharge effluent or pollutants to controlled waters. The control required is dependent on the level of risk an activity presents to the water environment. The Regulations also place a general duty on water users to use water efficiently.

8.6 Hazardous Substances

Directive 2003/53/EC relates to restrictions on the marketing and use of certain dangerous substances and preparations (nonylphenol, nonylphenol ethoxylate and cement). Using chemicals or other hazardous substances at work can put people's health at risk and be a risk to the environment. For this reason national law requires employers to control exposure to hazardous substances to prevent ill health. In the UK the COSHH Regulations set out a simple framework for controlling hazardous substances in the workplace. Railway maintenance may use a variety of hazardous materials which are both hazardous to




the environment and human health. COSHH precautions to prevent health impacts also contribute to a high level of environmental protection.

Asbestos Directive (91/382/EEC) is concerned with the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. Asbestos is hazardous and carcinogenic (a cancer-causing material). It can be very damaging to human health and the environment. It does not break down easily and remains in the environment for a long time. Member states were required to bring into force laws and regulations necessary to comply with this directive, which includes a ban on new use of asbestos. Where existing asbestos containing materials are in good condition, they may be left in place; their condition monitored and managed to ensure they are not disturbed.

8.7 Noise

The Environmental Noise Directive (END) EU Directive 2002/49/EC relates to the assessment and management of environmental noise. Due to the nature of the processes involved with railway maintenance, these sites have the potential to attract complaints for noise, dust and odour. Railway maintenance may cause noise and measures to control noise should be adopted. Planning permission may need to be sought and granted prior to some works and this could include noise restrictions.

8.8 Land Pollution

The Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/CE/2004) introduces two types of liability: fault-based liability in respect of environmental damage to protected species and natural habitats from all other occupational activities and strict liability in respect of environmental damage caused by a specified range of 'occupational activities' (described in Annex III of the Environmental Liability Directive). The Directive seeks to achieve the prevention and remedy for environmental damage – specifically, damage to habitats and species protected by EC law, damage to species or habitats on a site of special scientific interest for which the site has been notified, damage to water resources and land contamination which presents a threat to human health. It reinforces the “polluter pays” principle – making operators financially liable for threats of or actual damage.

The requirements of the Directive with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage are transposed into national regulations across Europe. The directive introduces new obligations to ensure that the polluter pays for damage caused. The Regulations are likely to be used only for the most serious cases of damage, and to make it quicker and less expensive to prevent or repair environmental damage. Operators carrying out "hazardous" activities will be held strictly liable (i.e. no need to show fault or negligence) for preventing or restoring any damage caused by those activities to land, water and protected habitats and species. In addition, operators carrying out other, less harmful, activities will be held liable when damage to protected habitats and species has been caused by their fault or negligence. Activities on site should be carried out in such a way as to avoid pollution incidents. This means that activities should be carried out in accordance with current best practice and other legislation requirements.

8.9 Ecology

The European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) and EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC have resulted in regulations which provide for the designation and protection of 'European sites', the protection of 'European protected species', and the adaptation of planning and other controls for the protection of European Sites. Railway maintenance will involve interaction with areas of conservation value that may fall under these regulations. Procedures should be established and maintained to protect habitats.




8.10 Environmental LCA Standards

8.10.1 ISO 14040- Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment

The increased awareness of the importance of environmental protection, and the possible impacts associated with products [1], both manufactured and consumed, has increased interest in the development of methods to better understand and address these impacts. One of the techniques being developed for this purpose is life cycle assessment (LCA) as discussed previously in this report. For practitioners of LCA, standard ISO 14040: 2006 details the requirements for conducting an LCA. This International Standard describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA) including:

a) The goal and scope definition of the LCA,

b) The life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase,

c) The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase,

d) The life cycle interpretation phase,

e) Reporting and critical review of the LCA,

f) Limitations of the LCA,

g) Relationship between the LCA phases, and

h) Conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.

In addition standard ISO/TS 14048:2002 provides the requirements and a structure for a data documentation format, to be used for transparent and unambiguous documentation and exchange of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data, thus permitting consistent documentation of data, reporting of data collection, data calculation and data quality, by specifying and structuring relevant information. This Technical Specification is applicable to the specification and structuring of questionnaire forms and information systems. However, it can also be applied to other aspects of the management of environmental data.

8.10.2 Greenhouse Gas Protocol

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is one of the most widely used international accounting frameworks for governments and businesses to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions within their organisation activities. The GHG Protocol consists of four separate but linked standards. The most relevant of these are:

The Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard can be used to understand the full life cycle emissions of a product and focus efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities. Companies can measure the greenhouse gases associated with the full life cycle of products including raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, storage, use and disposal.

Project Accounting Protocol and Guidelines are geared toward calculating reductions in GHG emissions from specific GHG-reduction projects. The Project Protocol is the most comprehensive, policy-neutral accounting tool for quantifying the greenhouse gas benefits of climate change mitigation projects.

The standards within the GHG Protocol provide tools to support guidance to undertake life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options.

http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/product-standard

http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/project-protocol




8.10.3 CEN/TC/350 – Sustainability of Construction Works

A suite of new European Standards is being developed for assessing the sustainability of construction products and the built environment, by the CEN Technical Committee for the sustainability of construction works (CEN/TC/350). The purpose of the work of CEN/TC/350 is to provide a framework with principles, requirements and guidelines for the development of standards to support the sustainability assessment of 'construction works'. A suite of standards will be produced within this framework to provide a system for the assessment of the aspects of sustainability of buildings (on the building level) based on a life cycle approach and containing quantitative assessment categories for the integrated performance of buildings, which will enable comparability of the results of assessments. Currently the proposed suite of standards covers environmental performance, health and comfort performance and the life cycle cost performance of buildings.

Although targeted towards buildings, elements of the standard may be relevant to construction more generally and hence be useful to support guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options.

8.11 Summary

There is an extensive set of EC Directives which cover a wide range of environmental factors that have or will in the future be transposed into national legislation. Associated regulations will impact upon the maintenance and renewal of railway infrastructure by imposing additional costs via taxation or penalties, imposing limiting values, for example on energy use or prohibiting the use of certain materials or processes. It would be impractical to account for every piece of legislation within the LCAT, particularly as some areas have very limited applicability to railway maintenance and renewal, for example CFC emissions or storage of oil on site. However two key areas which are widely applicable across a range of maintenance and renewal activities are CO2 emissions and waste. Both of these areas will have associated cost implications that will vary regionally across Europe.

Directive Impact Category Relevant maintenance/renewal activities Cost implications

EU Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC)

Waste All maintenance and renewal activities that

generate landfill waste

Landfill tax applied regionally

UK Climate Change Levy (and similar charging systems across Europe)

CO2 emissions All maintenance and renewal activities that use electricity, coal, natural gas or liquefied petroleum as an energy source.

Energy use tax applied regionally

Table 8-3: Summary of European Directives with potential cost implications for railway maintenance and renewal activities

The literature review has also identified the following international standards which provide guidance for undertaking environmental life cycle assessment and may be of use when developing the LCAT.




Standard Relevance to development of LCAT

ISO 140:2006 Environmental management – Life Cycle assessment – Principals and framework

Provides guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment of asset maintenance and renewal options

ISO/TS 14048:2002 – Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Data documentation format

Provides an example format to support data collection for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options

Table 8-4: Summary of International Standards providing guidance for the development of an environmental LCAT

8.12 References

[1] European Commission 2012, Kyoto Protocol Policy webpage, http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/g-gas/kyoto/index_en.htm

[2] Draft Commission Decision on determining Member States’ annual emission allocations for the period from 2013 to 2020 pursuant to Decision 406/2009/EC, 17 Oct 2012, accessed online at http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/effort/framework/docs/draft_decision_aeas_esd_en.pdf

[3] Europa, Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity, summary webpage ; http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/tackling_climate_change/l27019_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/g-gas/kyoto/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/g-gas/kyoto/index_en.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/effort/framework/docs/draft_decision_aeas_esd_en.pdf

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/tackling_climate_change/l27019_en.htm




9. Analysis

9.1 Analysis methodology

Qualitative analysis of the research will be carried out in order to make recommendations for the best environmental tools and methods to be taken forward into the development of the MAINLINE LCAT. The key findings of chapters 5 to 8 of this report will be summarised and common trends and inter-relationships across the different areas of research will be identified.

9.2 Analysis of research findings

There are a wide range of maintenance and renewal activities, with an equally wide range of environmental impacts associated with them. However it should be noted that the environmental impacts of such work are likely to be much lower than those associated with asset renewal or new construction works which are much more material and energy intensive. The LCAT tool to be developed should address those impacts found most relevant for specific maintenance and renewal activities, operations not included, making it possible to compare different maintenance and/or renewal options for specific projects. It is equally important that like is compared with like, and that the tool is not made too complex requiring very detailed data for every material or process. Global Warming Potential (GWP) expressed by emissions of CO2 equivalents might be considered as the main impact category for calculations and comparison between different options. This is justified in sub-chapter 5.3. Selection of CO2 emissions as the prevailing impact indicator in the present project can be justified by most materials in railway assets being energy intensive. Global warming is also a global impact - and thus relevant for all areas and nations.

The questionnaire responses indicate that at present EIAs are not widely carried out for railway maintenance works, but are sometimes carried out for renewal works. The EIAs carried out for renewal works tend to be for large projects only and may only be used for the renewal of certain asset types, for example tunnels, cuttings and bridges. None of the interviewed IMs are currently using a commercial or specially developed tool for carrying out maintenance and renewal EIAs. However there does appear to be a growing interest in environmental issues, and if a maintenance and renewal LCA tool became available it would be considered valuable by most. The questionnaire responses support the decision to focus on CO2 as a key metric, with 4 of 5 IMs ranking it as important. Waste management is also considered of medium to high importance by 4 of 5 IMs. Of the respondents, Turkey appeared to have the least experience in carrying out EIAs and considered CO2 and waste to be less important than the others questioned.

The research has also shown that a number of commercial tools and systems for measuring and assessing environmental impacts already exist. Many of these tools were developed in the building industry though some have also been developed for use on civil engineering projects. The available tools and methods cover the majority of related environmental impacts, and can be categorised into three types:

Life Cycle Assessment

Benchmarking Assessment


Data for performing LCA assessments can be obtained from data bases in any LCA-tool. Generalised data

is often not sufficiently precise to local conditions and legislation and therefore has to be updated locally.




Data for materials and processes is also available from projects such as InfraGuidER and Botniabanan for

railways maintenance operations, but should be evaluated or benchmarked for each specific project, actual

maintenance or replacement and service life.

Larger assessment and benchmarking systems such as CEEQUAL, BREEAM, LEED, and DGNB etc. provide evaluation of sustainability e.g. larger buildings and structures, with data certified by 3rd party inspection. They present different ways of benchmarking, different score cards and classifications, different weighing of impacts, and are relatively expensive to introduce. These systems are also presented in Section 7. When comparing different maintenance strategies, evaluation of environmental impacts should be performed together with the LCC. The weighting given to cost and environmental implications will need to be determined, and may vary depending on changes in policy, user preference or asset type. Therefore a tool with a high degree of flexibility with regards to environmental impact weighting would be preferable.

None of the tools reviewed are able to quantify environmental impacts in monetary terms. The main barriers to this appear to be a lack of country-specific data and monetary transfer functions which would need to be based on country-specific threshold values.

There are a range of European Community Directives related to environmental issues which have or will in the future be transposed into national legislation. The resulting regulations will impact upon the maintenance and renewal of railway infrastructure in the following ways:

Imposing limiting values – for example on energy or resource usage.

Imposing additional costs – for example via national taxes such as tax on landfill and energy use tax or via penalties and fines if requirements are not met

Encouraging environmental best practice imposing bans on certain activities and materials – for example prohibiting the use of certain substances or plant

The relevance of these findings to the MAINLINE Project is shown in Figure 10-1 below.

Figure 9-1: Potential areas for environmental EU Legislation to be applied within the MAINLINE Project

All of the above factors have the potential to impact upon the choice of intervention at any given point during the life of a railway infrastructure asset, either by limiting the feasibility of a particular remediation

Environmental

EU Legislation

Cost Implications

(e.g. Taxes)

Best practice guidance

Bans on environmentally

harmful activities and

materials

WP5

Taxes/penalties incorporated

into LCC model

WP1 & WP3

Input to benchmarking of

intervention options available

in LCC model

WP5

Input to environmental

weighting of intervention

options available in LCA

model.

Limiting values

(e.g. Energy or resource

usage)

WP5

Limiting values incorporated

into LCA model




option or increasing the cost. Legislative requirements should therefore also be considered when developing the environmental capabilities of the LCAT. Although the directives apply to all countries in the European Community, how they are applied through legislation will vary between countries and will also vary with time. For this reason, a degree of flexibility in the LCAT would be desirable in order to accommodate changes, for example in any limiting values or tax rates that may be incorporated in the model. It would be impractical to attempt to incorporate all areas of environmental performance governed by legislation within the LCAT, and some will be of far greater significance than others.




10. Conclusions

10.1 Selection of impact categories to be considered

All areas of research undertaken within this task support the decision to focus on CO2 emissions as a key environmental performance indicator. It is the category that has featured most prominently in the review of IM concerns, existing commercial tools and European legislation. Another category that featured consistently across the research was waste management and should therefore also be considered for inclusion in the LCAT. The figure below presents these findings graphically, and provides a starting point for the gap analysis that will be undertaken in task 5.3.

Figure 10-1: Prevalence of environmental impact categories across three areas of research (M-H stands for "Medium to High")

10.2 Tools with potential to be applied to the LCAT

Perhaps the most applicable tools are the life cycle assessment tools, as they use a similar approach to the life cycle costing which will be at the heart of the MAINLINE LCAT. However given the importance of the carbon agenda, features of the carbon accounting tools may also be considered for inclusion in the tool if more detailed assessment of CO2 emissions is required.

The following commercially available environmental Life Cycle Assessment tools offer the most features which may be incorporated within the MAINLINE LCAT:

Sima –Pro v7.0

GaBI4

TEAM

All of these tools use a process tree modelling system, which is preferential to the element based system as it offers a greater degree of flexibility. They are all used worldwide across a range of sectors and are

Noise

Air Pollution

Water Pollution

Depletion of Natural Resources

Ecology

Ozone depletion

Land use

CO2

Considered M-H importance by railway IMs

(based on questionnaire results)

Measured by currently available LCA tools

Key areas of legislative

implication relevant to railway maintenance

and renewal

Waste




capable of assessing across a comprehensive selection of standard impact categories, which includes Global Warming, as measured in g CO2 equivalent emissions. The commercial LCA tools also have the capability to assess waste impacts, allowing allocation of waste to different end-of-life waste management scenarios, such as reuse, landfill, incineration and recycling. These tools allow the waste to be fully allocated to one scenario or partly to a few scenarios by defining allocation percentages or assemblies types.

As well as LCA tools, a number of carbon accounting tools have been developed specifically to measure carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. Such tools often take the form of an excel spreadsheet and there is great potential for a similar system to be incorporated within the LCAT if more detailed carbon emission data is required. Two such tools currently used in the UK are the Highways Agency Carbon calculator and the Environment Agency carbon calculator, both of which are excel spreadsheets that can be downloaded for free.

10.3 Selection of environmental metrics within chosen impact categories

This research has highlighted that not only are there several ways of categorising environmental impacts, there are also several different metrics which may be used to quantify any given impact. Climate change impacts might be measured in terms of mass of CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2e), as is done in carbon accounting spreadsheets, or in terms of units of energy, for example kWh of electricity consumption may be used as a measure of greenhouse gas emissions for the purpose of taxation. The mass of CO2e metric is the most commonly used across LCA and carbon accounting tools, because it is the most versatile. This is because it can be applied to emissions from all sources, for example energy generation, material production or transportation. However CO2e values may be less readily available than other measures as they require large datasets, rather than say a measure of energy or fuel consumption which is more easily obtained. When deciding which carbon emissions metric is most appropriate for use in the MAINLINE LCAT, consideration should be given to the availability of datasets, data currently measured by the IMs and the units of any legislative limiting values or tax rates.

The CO2e metric measures the impact of all greenhouse gas emissions on climate change. This includes but is not limited to CO2 gas. Whilst CO2 is generally the most significant contributor to climate change effects, in certain circumstances other greenhouse gases such as N2O and methane are also major contributors, for example methane can become a significant driver at the end-of-life phase for waste disposed to landfill. In order to carry out a complete whole life impact assessment of climate change effects, other important greenhouse gases should also be considered in LCA assessments. Hence it is suggested that CO2e would be an appropriate metric to include within the MAINLINE LCAT. Moreover, the CO2e metric is likely to be most compatible with government set emission reduction targets and charging systems – for example the EU Annual Emissions Allowances for 2012-2020 will be set in terms of CO2e and will drive Member States to base their carbon pricing strategy on this metric.

None of the currently available tools reviewed convert the environmental impacts into monetary terms, and the development of a tool with this capability would represent a step change in IM prioritisation of maintenance and renewal activities. However achieving such functionality in the tool would present several significant challenges due of the lack of country specific data, monetary weightings and taxation values. It may therefore be impractical in the first instance to accurately assess and compare intervention options in this way, however as information becomes available the tool could be adapted to take advantage of this.

10.4 Flexibility of Tool

The research has indicated that the MAINLINE LCAT should have a high degree deal of flexibility in order to accommodate changes in policy, legislation, user preference or asset type. The user may wish to adjust the weighted factors used when assessing total environmental impact as well as the weighted factors used when combining LCC and LCA results.




11. APPENDIX A

Overview of EU Environmental Legislation and Illustrative English Domestic Acts/Regulations




Table of Contents

1. WASTE MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................64

2. AIR QUALITY .................................................................................................................................72

3. WATER ...........................................................................................................................................77

4. HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES .......................................................................................................80

5. NOISE .............................................................................................................................................83

6. LAND POLLUTION .........................................................................................................................85

7. ECOLOGY ......................................................................................................................................87

8. ENVIRONMENTAL LCA STANDARDS .........................................................................................89




1. Waste Management

Enabling European Directive

EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC

Relevant English Domestic Act/ Regulations

Environmental Protection Act 1990 Part II

Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/988)

The List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/895) as amended

Links

EU Waste Framework Directive

The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011

Summary

These regulations transpose the revised EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98, which sets requirements for the collection, transport, recovery and disposal of waste.

The key impacts from the 2011 regulations are as follows:

Duties on waste producers and handlers to ensure that all measures have been taken where reasonable to apply the waste hierarchy in priority order: (a) Prevention, (b) Preparation for reuse, (c) Recycling, (d) Other recovery; including energy recovery; and, (e) Disposal. The hierarchy may only be departed from when justified by “life-cycle thinking of the overall impacts of the generation and management of waste”.

Separate collection of waste paper, metal, plastic and glass from 1st January 2015 from households and businesses. Comingled collections of paper, metal, plastic and glass is considered to be a form of separate collection and will continue to be acceptable.

A two-tier system for waste carrier and broker registration with the Environment Agency (required for all those that normally and regularly transport waste, whether produced by them or others), including a new concept of a waste dealer;

Requires businesses to declare on their waste transfer note that they have applied the waste management hierarchy when transferring waste. The 2007 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code of the person transferring the waste” will also need to be shown on the waste transfer note. (This regulation does not apply where the waste transferred is hazardous waste and a consignment note is completed. Continue to use the 2003 SIC codes on hazardous waste consignment notes); and

Provides responsibility to the Environment Agency for enforcement.

Relevance to railway infrastructure assets

Railway maintenance and renewal will generate controlled waste, which will need to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of these regulations. It must be ensured that:

- Waste is consigned to a waste disposal contractor, categorised by the European Waste Catalogue to ensure its safe handling, treatment and disposal;

- Waste transfer notes need to be kept for a minimum of 2 years or 3 years for Hazardous Waste Consignment Notes;

- Copies of Licenses are retained for all waste carriers and registration certificates (Waste Management Permits or Exemption Certificates);

- Waste is securely contained to prevent it escaping to the environment (e.g. by being blown away, leaking to drains etc) both in storage and transit;

- The 2007 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code of the person transferring the waste must be included on the waste transfer note (continue to use the 2003 SIC codes on hazardous waste consignment notes);

- Prior to 1st January 2015, obtain confirmation in writing from the waste contractor that subsequent processing / separation of waste paper, metal, plastic and glass will take place.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:312:0003:0030:en:PDF

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/988/contents/made




Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

European Hazardous Waste Directive 91/689/EC and European Waste Catalogue 2000/532/EC


The Environmental Protection Act Part II

The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/894) as amended by Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (SI2009/507) and

Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/988)

The List of Wastes (England) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/895) as amended

Links

European Hazardous Waste Directive 91/689/EC

European Waste Catalogue

What is a Hazardous Waste? Guidance Document

Summary

Key aspects to the legislation are:

- The list of Hazardous Wastes are defined by the European Waste Catalogue (EWC) under the List of Wastes Regulations 2005;

- Each hazardous waste producing site (unless exempt) must be registered with the Environment Agency;

- Consignees are required to keep records of all consignments received and submit quarterly returns to the EA together with a fee per consignment;

- Sites that are registered are subject to EA inspection and monitoring;

- The mixing of hazardous waste with other hazardous waste types and non hazardous waste is prohibited.

- Mixing of hazardous waste may only be carried out by a person holding an appropriate permit and complying with Best Available Techniques (BATs);

- All types of premises that produce hazardous waste are exempt from registration if less than 500kg of hazardous waste is produced in a year.


Railway maintenance is likely to generate hazardous waste, which needs to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of these regulations.

It must be ensured that:

- the waste producer is registered with the Environment Agency as a hazardous waste producer on an annual basis;

- A licensed carrier must be used to transfer hazardous waste to a facility authorised to accept that type of waste. The facility must hold a suitable Environmental Permit

- The relevant consignment notes must be completed, including the waste description and quantity, together with the correct European Waste Catalogue (EWC) classification code.

- Duty of Care requirements also apply to hazardous wastes and consignment notes must be archived for 3 years minimum.

- Hazardous and non-hazardous wastes must not be mixed. Also, different types of hazardous waste should not be mixed.

- An inventory of the hazardous wastes stored on site must be maintained, indicating where they are

http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/waste_management/l21199_en.htm

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/GEHO1105BJVS-e-e.pdf

http://publications.environment-agency.gov.uk/pdf/GEHO0506BKTR-e-e.pdf




located, so that the emergency services will be able to deal with any incident effectively and safely.

Forthcoming Change

None at this time.

European Directive

EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC


Environmental Protection Act 1990 Part II

The Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/588) as amended by

The Controlled Waste (Amendment) Regulations 1993 (SI 1993/566)

Links

EU Waste Framework Directive

Controlled Waste Regulations 1992

Summary

The Controlled Waste Regulations define ‘controlled waste’ for the purposes of Part II of the EPA 1990 and outline the responsibilities of waste collection and disposal authorities with regard to household, industrial and commercial waste.

Controlled Wastes are categorised on the basis of the source or origin of the waste as `household’, `industrial’ or ‘commercial’ waste. Schedules 1-4 of the Controlled Waste Regulations specifies the responsibility for the collection and management of each waste category.


Railway maintenance is likely to generate controlled waste, which needs to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of these regulations.


- A comprehensive list (or catalogue) of all wastes generated or brought onto site is kept up to date. (The list should describe the waste, its source/origin, and its classification. If the waste has hazardous characteristics, or poses a risk of infection this should also be noted);

- Waste must not be disposed of by unauthorised means

- Storage areas should be regularly inspected and non-conformities reported.

Forthcoming Changes

The Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 are due to be restructured to make them easier to use but with no significant changes relevant to railway infrastructure assets anticipated.

For further guidance, see: http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/netregs/legislation/future/125795.aspx

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:312:0003:0030:en:PDF

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1992/Uksi_19920588_en_1.htm

http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/netregs/legislation/future/125795.aspx




European Directive

No direct link to European Directive but similar charging systems applied across Europe.


Finance Act 1996

The Landfill Tax Regulations 1996 (SI 1527) as amended by

The Landfill Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/924)

Links

HMRC Guidance

Summary

These regulations empower HM Revenue and Customs to levy a tax against the disposal of waste to landfill.

This tax has been set at two levels:

- A lower rate applies to listed inactive/inert wastes.

- A standard rate to all other taxable wastes (certain wastes will be exempt from the tax).

The standard rate of landfill tax is due to increase by £8 per tonne each year until at least 2014/15 when it will reach £80/tonne.

From 1st April 2011 – 31st March 2012 the two rates for landfill tax are:

- Standard rate: £56 per tonne;

- Lower rate for inactive waste, such as rocks and soil: £2.50 per tonne.

The Landfill Tax (Material from Contaminated Land) (Phasing out of Exemption) Order 2008 phases out the exemption from landfill tax on the disposal at landfill sites of material from the clean-up of contaminated land - approaches involving decontaminating the waste on site are now preferred.

These regulations were amended in April 2010, to change the maximum credit that landfill site operators may claim against their annual landfill tax liability when making contributions in respect of the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) from 6% to 5.5%.


Landfill tax is generally automatically added to the bill made by the waste management company. In order to reduce the costs of waste disposal, it should be ensured that :

- Active, inactive and exempt wastes are separated so that excessive charges are not incurred; - Periodically re-evaluate the opportunities for eliminating waste and the feasibility of disposing of waste via other means than to landfill (e.g. by applying the waste hierarchy).

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_InfoGuides&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_001206




European Directive

EU Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC)


The Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/1559) as amended by

The Landfill (England and Wales) Amendment Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/1375)

The Landfill (England and Wales) Amendment Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1640)

Links

European Landfill Directive

European Waste Catalogue (EWC) codes

Environment Agency Landfill Directive Guidance

Summary

Landfill sites were subject to a licensing regime established under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, but have now been replaced by the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, Schedule 10 on Landfill, which replaces this system in order to comply with the requirements of the European Directives on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control and Landfill. The Regulations set out new requirements for the classification and management of landfill sites, including the definition of a landfill site. They apply immediately to new landfills, for which an Environmental Permit is required to operate. For existing landfills (pre June 2002), where there were Waste Management Licenses in place, these became Environmental Permits.

As well as complying with all aspects of duty of care, waste producers are responsible for making sure that landfill sites receiving waste have an appropriate permit for the type of waste. There are three categories of landfill sites: hazardous, non hazardous and inert. Only sites classed as hazardous will be allowed to accept hazardous waste.

The Regulations also ban a number of waste types from landfill (including all liquid wastes, waste tyres and explosive, corrosive, flammable or oxidising chemicals).

They also introduce a requirement for pre-treatment of all waste prior to landfill, which can either be done on site or by paying contractors to do this on the company's behalf. Treatment is defined as a physical, thermal, chemical or biological process which changes the characteristics of the waste in order to reduce its volume, reduce the hazardous nature of the waste or to make handling and recovery easier. The most common example of waste pre-treatment is to segregate the waste streams on site to recycle one or more of the separated components.


Railway maintenance is likely to generate controlled waste, which needs to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of these regulations.


- A categorised list of the wastes is maintained;

- Ensure all wastes are disposed of at appropriately licensed landfill sites – i.e. with an Environmental Permit that covers the relevant waste(s);

- All waste going to landfill must be subjected to 'basic characterisation' and it is the responsibility of the waste producer to ensure that information supplied to the landfill operator is correct;

- EWC codes should be used on all waste transfer notes;

- All aspects of Duty of Care are followed, including checking landfill site classification (hazardous, non-hazardous and inert), related permits and Waste Acceptance Criteria (hazardous and inert sites only);

- All non-hazardous waste is pre-treated prior to disposal to landfill by either: pre-treating the waste at source (e.g. by segregation of recyclables such as paper, cardboard, glass, metal, etc) for separate collection and recycling and provide written proof of this to the waste contractor; or arrange for the waste management provider to pre-treat the waste on the company’s behalf at a waste transfer station or Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/landfill_index.htm

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/static/documents/GEHO1105BJVS-e-e.pdf

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/regulation/31867.aspx




Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

EU Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) as amended by Directive 2008/34/EC and 2008/35/EC


The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/3289) as amended

Links

EU Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)

The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations

Summary

The WEEE Regulations aim to reduce the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment going to landfill, and increase recovery and recycling rates. The Regulations apply to businesses that manufacture, import, re-brand, distribute, sell, store, treat, dismantle, recycle, dispose, or use electrical and electronic equipment.

WEEE must be stored, collected, treated, recycled and disposed of separately from other waste streams.

If you bought EEE before 13 August 2005, the waste is known as 'historic WEEE'. If you are replacing the equipment, the producer of the replacement equipment must take your unwanted item if you request it, even if they are not the original manufacturer. (A bar underneath the crossed-out wheeled bin symbol indicates that the WEEE is non-historic).

If you rent or lease EEE the organisation that provides the equipment will normally be responsible for disposing of it.


If the railway maintenance involves, buying, renting or leasing electrical and electronic equipment it must ensure that it is appropriately disposed of at the end of its life.

It should be ensured that:

- WEEE is stored, collected, treated, recycled and disposed of separately from other waste streams;

- Proof that WEEE was given to a waste management company and was treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound way (This should be evident on presentation of a consignment note and a copy of the final treatment site’s waste management licence).

- When you buy new EEE, you should keep the WEEE registration number of the equipment producer and use this to contact the producer when you need to dispose of the products. The producer's compliance scheme is responsible for the WEEE.

Forthcoming Changes

The WEEE Directive does not stipulate how its aims should be achieved and the system therefore currently varies between member states. A new WEEE Directive is proposed for publication in early 2012.

For further guidance, see: http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/environmental-and-product-

regulations/environmental-regulations/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment/weee%20latest%20developments

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/index_en.htm

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file35992.pdf

http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/environmental-and-product-regulations/environmental-regulations/waste-electrical-and-electronic-equipment/weee%20latest%20developments






The proposed changes will:

Adapt the annual target rate for collection of electric and electronic waste to the size and economic situation of individual EU countries.

Widen the scope of the law to cover in principle all electric and electronic equipment six years after the entry into force of the recast. Photovoltaic panels will be immediately included and will have to be collected separately and properly treated.

Encourage the re-use of entire appliances.

Producers must pay for collection and treatment of the waste, including its recycling or energy recovery.

European Directive

EU Waste Batteries and Accumulators Directive (2006/66/EC)


The Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/890)

Links

BIS Guidance

BERR Guidance Note

Summary

The 2009 Batteries Regulations establish a new Producer Responsibility system for the collection, treatment and recycling of waste portable, industrial and automotive batteries and introduce:

- Requirements for any persons placing batteries on the market to register as a producer of batteries, and report on waste batteries collected and sent for recycling;

- Requirements for the treatment and recycling of waste batteries.

- Interim collection targets to assess progress towards the Directive’s targets of collecting waste portable batteries equivalent to 25 per cent of sales by 2012 and 45 per cent by 2016;

- Producers will meet their responsibilities for collection and recycling by joining a Battery Compliance Scheme (BCS). BCSs will be approved by the relevant UK environment agencies; BCSs will carry out publicity aimed at consumers to inform how waste household batteries can be returned for recycling;

- Producers who put less than 1 tonne of portable batteries on the market will register with the environment agencies but will not have to fund collection, treatment and recycling.


There are no direct obligations for battery users; however it should be ensured that:

- Waste batteries are separated for treatment and recycling (disposal of whole, untreated industrial and automotive batteries in landfill or by incineration is banned);

- Remain informed about collection and recycling schemes available through the Environment Agency.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.bis.gov.uk/policies/business-sectors/environmental-and-technical-regulations/environmental-regulations/batteries-and-accumulators

http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51268.pdf




European Directive

EU End of Life Vehicles Directive (2000/53/EC)


End of Life Vehicles Regulations 2003 SI 2635 as amended in 2010 SI 1094

End-of-Life Vehicles (Producer Responsibility) (Amendment) Regulations 2005 as amended in 2010

Links

End of Life Vehicles (Amendment) 2010

EU Directive on end of life vehicles

Summary

The Regulations aim to prevent the generation of waste from vehicles, increasing reuse and recycling and reducing the environmental impact of disposal. The regulations require the last holder or owner of the end of life vehicle to obtain a Certificate of Destruction from the authorised treatment facility when the vehicle is transferred for treatment.

The 2010 amendment changes the basis on which exemptions from the restrictions on use of heavy metals in vehicle components are identified, and provides powers of entry and inspection for the enforcement authorities.



- The site where ELVs are sent to is an ATF and holds an environmental permit;

- ELVs are classified as hazardous waste;

- The AFT issue Certificates of Destruction. (This demonstrates that your vehicle has been taken to an ATF and allows the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to deregister the vehicle).

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/1094/made

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/elv_index.htm




2. Air Quality

European Directive

EC Regulation on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer (EC/1005/2009)


The Environmental Protection (Controls on Ozone-Depleting Substances) Regulations 2002 (SI 2002/528) as amended

The Ozone-Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/216)

Links

EC Regulation on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer

The Ozone-Depleting Substances (Qualifications) Regulations 2009

Summary

The EC directive is directly applicable in UK legislation and relates to the control of a number of substances that are known to deplete the ozone layer. The regulations affect users, producers, suppliers, maintenance and service engineers and those involved with the disposal of ozone depleting substances (ODS).

Key substances affected by the regulations include: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), HCFC Blends, Solvents: CFC (113), 1,1,1-trichloromethane, bromochloromethane (CBM); Foam blowing agents: HCFCs and fire fighting fluids.

Only competent persons with the relevant training and qualifications must be used for any work with equipment containing ozone depleting substances. The Regulations set out offences and penalties for those who carry out relevant work without being suitably qualified and/or who employ non-competent people to carry out work with ODS/methyl bromide without holding the specified minimum qualifications.


This legislation will be applicable to railway maintenance where for example fire suppression equipment, refrigeration and heat pumps are used on site. It must be ensured that:

- the presence and type of ozone depleting substances are identified on site, and are phased out in accordance with these regulations.

- an adequate maintenance regime is in place to ensure that all equipment containing these substances is regularly serviced to prevent the occurrence of any leakage.

- any person maintaining such equipment takes all necessary steps to recover and recycle ozone-depleting substances during the maintenance process.

- competent persons are used for any work relating to ozone depleting substances (e.g. for maintenance).

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

EC Regulation on Certain Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases (EC/842/2006)


The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/261)

Links

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:286:0001:0030:EN:PDF

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2009/uksi_20090216_en_1




EC Regulation on Certain Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases

The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2009

Summary

The principal objective is to contain, prevent and thereby reduce emissions of F-gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol. The containment and recovery articles in the Regulation will have an impact on the commercial refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump sectors and in the fire protection sector; and for the personnel involved in the installation, servicing and recovery of F-gases from these systems as well as from equipment containing fluorinated greenhouse gas based solvents, high voltage switchgear and fire extinguishers. F-gases include HFCs, PFCs, and SF6.

Operators of relevant systems will have a range of obligations including prompt leakage repair, leakage checking and record keeping and ensuring appropriately qualified personnel are used.


Where railway maintenance uses fire suppression equipment, refrigeration and heat pumps on the site, and if systems contain more than 3 kg of relevant gases the guidance below is relevant for compliance:

- Maintain records for systems with more than 3kg of HFC refrigerant;

- Define a leak testing programme and ensure regular leakage checking by appropriately qualified personnel;

- Repair any detected leakage as soon as possible;

- If refrigerant needs to be removed from a system (e.g. to gain access to part of a system for maintenance or during system decommissioning at the end of life) the gas must be properly recovered by certified personnel;

- Use of adequately trained and certified staff to check systems;

- Ensure correct labelling

- Automatic leak detection systems must be fitted for plants with more that 300kg of HFC refrigerant.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/f-gas/index_en.htm





European Directive

No direct link to European Directive but similar charging systems applied across Europe


The Finance Act 2000The Climate Change Levy (Registration and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/7)

The Climate Change Levy (Eligible Facilities) Regulations 2001 (SI2001/662)

The Climate Change Levy (General) Regulations 2001 (SI2001/838) as amended

Links

Climate Change Levy

Summary

The CCL is a tax on the use of energy in industry commerce and the public sector. The levy forms a key part of the Government's overall Climate Change Programme, helping the UK to meet its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

If a business uses electricity, coal, natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas as an energy source then the Climate Change Levy will apply. If a business is regulated by the Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations then its trade sector may have negotiated a discount on the climate change levy through agreeing energy reduction targets. The levy is charged at different rates depending on energy type used.

The following rates apply after 1st April 2011:

- Electricity: 0.485p / kWh;

- Supplied by a gas utility: 0.169p / kWh;

- Any petroleum gas, or other gaseous hydrocarbon, supplied in a liquid state: 1.083p / kg

- Any other taxable commodity: 1.321p / kg

Exclusions from paying the levy include: electricity generated from renewable sources, fuel used by certified CHP schemes, fuels used as feedstock.


The CCL applies a tax on energy use and therefore creates a driver for activities to be undertaken in an energy efficient way to avoid excess energy costs being incurred.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Directive 1999/23/EC as amended by Directive 2005/33/EC,

European Communities Act 1972


The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels (England and Wales) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1460)

The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels (England and Wales) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/79)

Links

The Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels (England and Wales) Regulations 2007

Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Directive 1999/23/EC as amended by Directive 2005/33/EC

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1085295577

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/79/pdfs/uksi_20070079_en.pdf

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:191:0059:0069:EN:PDF




Summary

The regulations set a series of three limits on the amount of sulphur contained in both fuel oil and gas oil. The sulphur limits came into force in three different stages between 2000 and 2008.

For users of gas oil (diesel)

From 1 July 2000 the amount of sulphur in these oils must not exceed 0.2 % by mass. The marketing of higher sulphur gas oil for inland applications has been prohibited since October 1994.

From 1 January 2008 the sulphur limit must not exceed 0.1 % by mass.

For users of fuel oil

From 1 January 2003 the amount of sulphur in this oil must not exceed 1 per cent. However operators of combustion plants (including those on refineries) have the option of either:

Complying with the 1 per cent sulphur limit, or

Having a permit which requires compliance with a sulphur dioxide emission limit of 1700mg/Nm3 from

the same date.


In order to undertake railway maintenance, oil is likely to be used on site. Any oil stored on site should be checked to ensure that the sulphur content is within legal parameters.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

Directive 96/62/EC on ambient air quality assessment and management (the Air Quality Framework Directive)


Air Quality Standards Regulations, 2010

Links

Air Quality Standards Regulations, 2010

Summary

The AQS apply the National Air Quality Strategy, the requirements of the Air Quality Framework Directive, plus the four directives. The regulations also include a requirement to regulate ambient concentrations of PM 2.5. The regulations also specify the monitoring requirements for different pollutants covering location, frequency and methods.


Transport Planning should be integrated with comprehensive planning for land use and air quality.

If railway maintenance and renewal is undertaken in Air Quality Management Areas (AQMA) there may be restrictions to the concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere and mitigation or monitoring may be required to meet the air quality requirements.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.





European Directive

Directive 97/68/EC


The Non-Road Mobile Machinery (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Links

Directive 97/68/EC

The Non-Road Mobile Machinery (Emission of Gaseous and Particulate Pollutants) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

Department for Transport Guidance

Summary

Non-road mobile machinery (NRMM) is defined as any mobile machine, item of transportable industrial equipment, or vehicle - with or without bodywork - that is:

not intended for carrying passengers or goods on the road

installed with a combustion engine - either an internal spark ignition (SI) petrol engine, or a compression ignition diesel engine

Examples of non-road mobile machinery include, but are not limited to:

garden equipment, such as hedge trimmers and hand-held chainsaws

generators

bulldozers

pumps

construction machinery

industrial trucks

fork lifts

mobile cranes

These regulations set emission standards for carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and - for diesel engines - particulate matter.


If any non-road mobile machinery is used as part of railway maintenance and renewal, it should be ensured that the regulations above are complied with.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CONSLEG:1997L0068:20070101:en:PDF



http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/other/non-road-mobile-mach.asp




3. Water

European Directive

Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)


Water Resources Act 1991

Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001/2954)

Links

Water Framework Directive

The Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) (England) Regulations 2001

Summary

These regulations affect all sites that store more than 200 litres of oil (any type other than waste oil) above ground (in one or more containers).

Oil includes petrol, diesel, central-heating oil, mineral and synthetic oils, vegetable and plant oils, heavy oils such as liquid bitumen, oil-based solvents such as kerosene, and waste oil.

The regulations set design standards for all above ground stores and require secondary containment (e.g. bunds and drip trays) to prevent oil escape to controlled waters (e.g. canal, groundwater).

In general, an oil store will be considered to be at ‘significant risk’ if it is located within 10 metres of a watercourse or 50 metres of a well or borehole.


In order to undertake railway maintenance, oil is likely to be stored on site. It must be ensured that all fuel and oil storage facilities (including waste oil) are assessed to improve protective measures to prevent accidental escape to drains or seepage to groundwater and apply the following requirements:

Tanks, drums, or other containers must be strong enough to hold oil without leaking or bursting;

If possible, position the oil container away from any vehicle traffic to avoid damage from collision;

A bund or drip tray must be provided to catch any oil leaks from the container or its ancillary pipe-work and equipment;

The bund must be sufficient to contain 110% of the maximum contents of the container;

Where more than one container is stored, the bund should be capable of storing 110% of the largest tank or 25% of the total storage capacity, whichever is the greater;

The bund base and walls must be impermeable to water and oil and checked regularly for leaks;

Any valve, filter, sight gauge, vent pipe or other ancillary equipment kept within the bund if not in use;

No drainage valve may be fitted to the bund for the purpose of draining out rainwater;

Above-ground pipe-work should be properly supported;

Underground pipe-work should be protected from physical damage and have adequate leakage detection. If mechanical joints must be used, they should be readily accessible for inspection; and

A number of other detailed requirements are included in the Regulations, such as the positioning of site gauges, fill points, vent pipes and other ancillary equipment.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-framework/index_en.html






European Directive

Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC)


Water Resources Act 1991 (as amended by the Water Act 2003)

The Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) (England and Wales) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/3242)

The Water Act 2003 (Commencement No. 2, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2004 (SI 2004/2528) (C. 106) – plus Commencement No. 4, No. 6 and No. 8

The Water Resources (Abstraction & Impounding) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/641) as amended

The Anti Pollution Works Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/1006)

Water Resources Act 1991 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/3104)

Links


Water Resources Act 1991

Summary

This act is the primary legislation regulating water quality and quantity in England and Wales. The act prohibits the discharge or entry of poisonous, noxious or polluting material to controlled waters (surface waters or groundwater) without an environmental permit. Businesses that discharge or intend to discharge to controlled waters must obtain consent from the Environment Agency.

The act deals with:

- The functions and duties of the EA that relate to water;

- Control of pollution of water resources;

- Consents to discharge to controlled water; and

- The control of water for public and private use.

There are stringent regulations to prevent and allow discharges to controlled water and surface water throughout the country. The regulations indicate a range of different pollutants and their restrictions on discharges. It is prohibited to discharge effluent or pollutants to controlled waters. The control required is dependent on the level of risk an activity presents to the water environment. The Regulations also place a general duty on water users to use water efficiently.

A number of Water Protection Zones (WPZs) will be established. If railway maintenance operates in a WPZ it will not be able to keep or use certain listed substances which may include fuels, liquid foods, inorganic fertilisers, other toxic or dangerous substances without consent from the Environment Agency.


Relevant to the potential for water pollution from railway maintenance activities. Any activities should:

- Maintain a drainage plan to identify and record discharges and destinations (i.e. sewer or surface water course);

- Assess all potentially contaminating activities for the risk to surface water drains and controlled waters (e.g. chemical and fuel spills, vehicle washing), protecting these drains as appropriate (i.e. move the activity, protect the activity, protect the drains);

- Ensure adequate containment systems for potentially polluting materials and the availability of spill containment materials;

- Establish controls to ensure that activities do not result in surface or groundwater contamination;

- Comply with the requirements of any authorisation or control applied by the Environment Agency and within the environmental permit; and

- Ensure effective measures are in place to achieve efficiency in water use.


http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991/Ukpga_19910057_en_1.htm




- To notify the local water service company/Environment Agency in the event of a spillage / emergency situation.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC


Water Industry Act 1991, as amended by the Water Industry Act 1999

The Trade Effluents (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/1156) as amended by The Trade Effluents (Prescribed Processes and Substances) (Amendment) Regulations 1990 (SI 1990/1629)

Links


Water Industry Act 1991

Summary

This Act empowers the water service companies to control discharges to sewer by granting trade effluent consents. The consents impose limits for volume and/or chemical composition of the wastes. Section 118 sets out the details for trade effluent discharge consents. The Act also makes it an offence to discharge any matter into a public sewer, which is likely to damage the sewer or sewage treatment process.

A trade effluent consent must be obtained or a trade effluent agreement must be in place with the water and sewerage company or authority before discharging trade effluent to a public foul sewer or to a private sewer that connects to a public sewer. It is an offence to discharge trade effluent to a foul sewer without consent, and could lead to prosecution or a fine. A trade effluent consent or agreement is required if:

The discharge of any trade effluent is allowed into a public foul sewer;

Substances such as oils, solvents, chemicals, food, adhesives, inks or powders are washed into a public foul sewer; and

A sink, basin, toilet or gully is used for disposing of any liquid wastes to a public foul sewer, apart from domestic sewage, or discharging wash waters.

Authorisation from your environmental regulator may also be required to discharge some trade effluents to sewer. These include:

Effluents from installations that have an environmental permit (England and Wales); and

Effluents that contain dangerous substances, for example mercury or cadmium.

The environmental regulator’s requirements may be different from the conditions on a trade effluent consent. The stricter requirements should be complied with.


If railway maintenance involves discharge of any trade effluents, these regulations must be complied with to ensure that all requirements of its discharge consent are met.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.


http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991/Ukpga_19910056_en_1.htm




4. Hazardous Substances

European Directive

Directive 2003/53/EC


Health and Safety at work etc Act 1974

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 as amended by

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3386)

Links

http://www.hse.gov.uk/COSHH/index.htm

The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2004

Summary

Using chemicals or other hazardous substances at work can put people's health at risk. So the law requires employers to control exposure to hazardous substances to prevent ill health. The COSHH Regulations set out a simple framework for controlling hazardous substances in the workplace.

To comply with COSHH, an employer must follow 8 steps, including (1) assess the risks (2) decide what precautions are needed (3) prevent or adequately control the exposure (4) ensure that the control measures are used and maintained (5) monitor the exposure (6) carry out appropriate health surveillance (7) prepare plans to deal with accidents and emergencies and (8) ensure employees are properly trained, informed and supervised.


Railway maintenance may use a variety of hazardous materials which are both hazardous to the environment and human health. COSHH precautions to prevent health impacts also contribute to a high level of environmental protection.

Any activities should be carried out in the 8 steps outlined above, maintain appropriate records and ensure that material safety data sheets (MSDS) are available at the point of use.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

European Directive

Asbestos Directive (91/382/EEC)


The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/2739)

Links

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006

Summary

The Regulations prohibit the importation, supply and use of all forms of asbestos. They continue the ban introduced for blue and brown asbestos 1985 and for white asbestos in 1999. They also continue the ban on second-hand use of asbestos products such as asbestos cement sheets and asbestos boards and tiles; including panels which have been covered with paint or textured plaster containing asbestos.


There may be asbestos in situ at various locations across its sites.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/COSHH/index.htm






The ban applies to new use of asbestos. Where existing asbestos containing materials are in good condition, they may be left in place; their condition monitored and managed to ensure they are not disturbed. The regulation requires:

Taking reasonable steps to find asbestos-containing materials in premises and checking their condition;

Presuming materials contain asbestos unless there is strong evidence to suppose they do not;

Keeping an up-to-date written record of the location and condition of asbestos-containing materials;

Assessing the risk of exposure to asbestos-containing materials; and

Preparing and putting into effect a plan to manage the risk.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.




European Directive

Regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (Regulation EC 1907/2006)


The REACH Enforcement Regulations 2008 (SI 2008/2852)

Annex II of REACH on safety data sheets is being replaced in two phases by Commission Regulation (EU) No 453/2010: From 1 December 2010, Annex II of REACH is replaced by Annex I of Regulation 453/2010, and from 1 June 2015, Annex II of REACH is replaced by Annex II of Regulation 453/2010.

On 15 March 2011, revisions to Annexes I and XIII of REACH were introduced by Regulation (EU) No. 252/2011 and Regulation (EU) No. 253/2011.

Links

REACH regulations

Summary

REACH will eventually replace over 40 separate pieces of legislation and has aims to provide a high level of protection of human health and the environment from the use of chemicals. It will also make manufacturers and importers placing chemicals on the market responsible for understanding and managing the risks associated with their use and promote the use of alternative methods for the assessment of the hazardous properties of substances. The legislation requires: Authorisation: for substances with “high concern" properties where alternatives cannot be substituted; Restrictions: Will be applied to the marketing and use of chemicals where the risks to human health and the environment are deemed to be unacceptable; Classification and labelling: inventory will be established and information will be publicly accessible; Exemptions: substances in transit (road, rail, inland waterway, sea, air); radioactive substances, waste, substances under customs supervision, some naturally occurring low-hazard substances.

The Phase 1 registration period closed on 1st December 2010. By this date the following pre-registered ‘phase-in’ substances should have been registered when supplied at:

≥ 1000 tonnes per annum (tpa) or;

≥ 100 tpa and classified under CHIP as very toxic to aquatic organisms or;

≥ 1 tpa and classified under CHIP as Cat 1 or 2 carcinogens, mutagens or reproductive toxicants

The deadline for registration of substances supplied at ≥ 100 tpa is 1st June 2013 (Phase 2 is now underway); and for all other substances supplied at ≥ 1 tpa the deadline is 1st June 2018 (Phase 3).


Railway maintenance may use a range of chemicals in its maintenance programme; therefore these regulations must be complied with.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time





5. Noise

European Directive

Environmental Noise Directive (END) EU Directive 2002/49/EC


Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Noise and Statutory Nuisance Act 1993 and the Environment Act 1995)

Statutory Nuisance (Appeals) Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2644)

The Statutory Nuisance (Appeals) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/771)

Links

The Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC

Business Link Guidance

Summary

The Environmental Protection Act gives Local Authorities powers to deal with a wide range of statutory nuisances including noise and vibration, odour, fumes, smoke, gases, steam and dust emissions, where they are prejudicial to health or a nuisance. Where statutory nuisance exists or is likely to occur or reoccur local authorities can serve an abatement notice requiring abatement of that nuisance.

Failure to comply with the terms of an abatement notice is an offence. Organisations can show in their defence that Best Practical Means (BPM) to prevent or reduce the effects of the nuisance have been applied.


Due to the nature of the processes involved with railway maintenance, these sites have the potential to attract complaints for noise, dust and odour.

The sites should maintain any noise or any other nuisance reduction measures to ensure levels are within the desired range.

Ensure any contractors working on sites have systems in place to minimise noise levels and also other activities which have the potential to cause a nuisance (e.g. visual, odour, light, vibrations).

Keep noise levels within the standards set eg in BS: 8233:1999 – Sound Insulation and Noise Reduction

Ensure exterior noise levels are in accordance with the World Health Organisations Community Noise Guidance, 1999.

Maintain good neighbour relations, involving local residents in the management of future disturbances, which are likely to affect them. Ensure new work is planned to minimise local community disturbance.

If complaints have occurred in the past review complaints record and implement changes to minimise occurrence.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/noise/directive.htm

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1086041496




European Directive



The Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 + The Environmental Noise (Wales) Regulations 2006

Links


Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 as amended

Environmental Noise (Wales) Regulations 2006 as amended

Summary

These regulations implement the Environmental Noise Directive (END) EU Directive 2002/49/EC in England and Wales respectively. The regulations apply to noise including from road, railway, and industrial noise, to which humans are exposed.

Under the Regulations and Directive, authorities in each Member State are required to compile noise maps showing the noise occurring in a particular area, whether from particular stretches of road or rail or airports or industrial sources. Following the analysis of the noise maps the authorities identify the noise pollution priorities and develop Action Plans which can require the implementation of measures to reduce or preserve noise in a given area. Action Plans must be reviewed every 5 years or when a major development occurs.


Railway maintenance may cause noise and measures to control noise should be adopted.

Planning permission may need to be sought and granted prior to some works and this could include noise restrictions.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/noise/directive.htm


http://www.legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2006/2629/contents/made




6. Land Pollution

European Directive

Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/CE/2004)


Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/153) Amended by:

The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 (SI 2010/587)

Links

NetRegs Guidance

2009 Legislation: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3275/pdfs/uksi_20093275_en.pdf

2010 Amendment: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/587/pdfs/uksi_20100587_en.pdf

Summary

The Environmental Damage (Prevention and Remediation) Regulations 2008 forces industrial polluters to prevent and repair environmental damage that they have caused (the ‘polluter pays’ principle). The 2010 regulations make amendments on environmental liability with respect to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage.

The Directive introduces two types of liability: fault-based liability in respect of environmental damage to protected species and natural habitats from all other occupational activities and strict liability in respect of environmental damage, caused by a specified range of 'occupational activities' (described in Annex III of the Environmental Liability Directive). The Regulations transpose the requirements of the Directive with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. They introduce new obligations to ensure that the polluter pays for damage caused. The Regulations are likely to be used only for the most serious cases of damage, and make it quicker and less expensive to prevent or repair environmental damage.


Operators carrying out "hazardous" activities will be held strictly liable (i.e. no need to show fault or negligence) for preventing or restoring any damage caused by those activities to land, water and protected habitats and species. In addition, operators carrying out other, less harmful, activities will be held liable when damage to protected habitats and species has been caused by their fault or negligence. Operators are exempt from clean-up costs if the damage:

Is caused by pollution released within the terms of emission permits; or

Occurred despite the use of best practice;

Is caused by war or an act of God; or

Is caused by a third party, despite having taken all safety measures.

Activities on site should be carried out in such a way as to avoid pollution incidents. This means that activities should be carried out in accordance with current best practice and other legislation requirements.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://www.netregs.gov.uk/netregs/legislation/current/104965.aspx






European Directive

No direct link to European Directive but similar charging systems applied across Europe


The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991

Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011

Links

Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011

Summary

Planning permission must be obtained from the planning authority before any “development” can take place. The acts set out the framework for the planning and development control process. Development is defined as 'the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land'. Any conditions attached to planning permission must be adhered to.

The Regulation introduces statutory development plans and the administration of development control, especially with regard to developments in environmentally sensitive locations. There is also a requirement in the form of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to determine the effects on the environment of certain public or private projects before a development consent is granted.

The Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2011 came into force on 24 August 2011 and consolidate the 1999 regulations and subsequent amendments. The main changes are as follows:

Include provisions in relation to projects serving national purposes in Scotland, Wales and NI;

Apart from the above, these Regulations apply to England only;

Limit the requirement for subsequent applications to be subject to screening in cases where significant environmental effects were not identified at the time that the initial planning permission was granted;

Negative screening decisions to be provided in writing and placed on Part 1 of the register and be available for public inspection;

Any person may not ask the Secretary of State to exercise the power of direction;

Inclusion and installation of sites for geological capture and storage of CO2; and

Amends provisions to changes/extensions to an existing development so that environmental effects are considered for the whole site once modified.


Planning permission must be obtained for “development” undertaken on site unless it is a “permitted development”. Once in place planning permission consent conditions must be complied with.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/1824/introduction/made




7. Ecology

European Directive

European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC)


Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (as amended)

Links

Naturenet Guidance

European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds

Summary

This Act is supplemented by the Conservation of Habitats Regulation 2010, and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. It seeks to protect habitats (by designating them as Sites of Special Scientific Interest SSSIs) and individual species.

Section 28G of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as amended) states that public bodies must "take reasonable steps, consistent with the proper exercise of their functions, to further the conservation and enhancement of SSSIs".


Railway maintenance will involve interaction with areas of conservation value that may fall under this Act. Procedures should be established and maintained to protect habitats.

If projects are located near to a designated SSSI site, consultation with Natural England will be required prior to commencement of any works and a management plan will be required.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://www.naturenet.net/law/wcagen.html#intro

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/birdsdirective/index_en.htm




European Directive

EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC


The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010

Links

EU Habitats Directive

The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010

Summary

The Regulations provide for the designation and protection of 'European sites', the protection of 'European protected species', and the adaptation of planning and other controls for the protection of European Sites.


It is an offence for anyone intentionally to kill, injure or take any wild bat, or sell, offer or expose for sale any live or dead bat. It is also an offence to damage, destroy or obstruct access to any place used by bats for shelter or as a breeding site, whether they are present or not.

Forthcoming Changes

None at this time.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/habitatsdirective/index_en.htm





8. Environmental LCA Standards

The following are relevant from the point of view of supporting the work to assess whole life cost of asset renewal and replacement.

Reference

ISO 14040: 2006 Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Principles and framework

Summary

ISO 14040:2006 describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA) including: definition of the goal and scope of the LCA, the life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) phase, the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, the life cycle interpretation phase, reporting and critical review of the LCA, limitations of the LCA, the relationship between the LCA phases, and conditions for use of value choices and optional elements.

ISO 14040:2006 covers life cycle assessment (LCA) studies and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies. It does not describe the LCA technique in detail, nor does it specify methodologies for the individual phases of the LCA.

The intended application of LCA or LCI results is considered during definition of the goal and scope, but the application itself is outside the scope of this International Standard.


The standard provides a guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options

Links

ISO 14040: 2006

Reference

ISO /TR 14047: 2003 Environmental management -- Life cycle impact assessment -- Examples of application of ISO 14042

Summary

ISO/TR 14047:2003 provides examples to illustrate current practice in carrying out a life cycle impact assessment in accordance with ISO 14042. These are only examples of the total possible "ways" to satisfy the provisions of ISO 14042. They reflect the key elements of the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase of the LCA


The standard provides examples to support guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options

Links

ISO/TR 14047: 2003

http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=37456

http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=31026




Reference

ISO/TS 14048:2002 - Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Data documentation format

Summary

This Technical Specification provides the requirements and a structure for a data documentation format, to be used for transparent and unambiguous documentation and exchange of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) data, thus permitting consistent documentation of data, reporting of data collection, data calculation and data quality, by specifying and structuring relevant information.

The data documentation format specifies requirements on division of data documentation into data fields, each with an explanatory description. The description of each data field is further specified by the structure of the data documentation format.

This Technical Specification is applicable to the specification and structuring of questionnaire forms and information systems. However, it can also be applied to other aspects of the management of environmental data.

This Technical Specification does not include requirements on completeness of data documentation. The data documentation format is independent of any software or database platform for implementation.

This Technical Specification does not require any specific sequential, graphic or procedural solutions for the presentation or treatment of data, nor does it describe specific modelling methodologies for LCI and LCA data.


ISO/TS 14048:2002 - Environmental management -- Life cycle assessment -- Data documentation format

Links

ISO/TS 14048:2002

Reference

Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Summary

The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol) is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions.

The GHG Protocol consists of four separate but linked standards. The most relevant of these are:

The Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard can be used to understand the full life cycle emissions of a product and focus efforts on the greatest GHG reduction opportunities. Companies can measure the greenhouse gases associated with the full life cycle of products including raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, storage, use and disposal.

Project Accounting Protocol and Guidelines are geared toward calculating reductions in GHG emissions from specific GHG-reduction projects. The Project Protocol is the most comprehensive, policy-neutral accounting tool for quantifying the greenhouse gas benefits of climate change mitigation projects.


The standards within the GHG Protocol provide tools to support guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options.

Links

http://www.ghgprotocol.org/about-ghgp

http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail?csnumber=29872

http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/product-standard

http://www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/project-protocol




Reference

Forth-coming Standard - TC/350 Sustainability assessment of construction works.

Summary

A suite of new European Standards is being developed for assessing the sustainability of construction products and the built environment, by the CEN Technical Committee for the sustainability of construction works (CEN TC 350).

The purpose of the work of CEN/TC/350 is to provide a framework with principles, requirements and guidelines for the development of standards to support the sustainability assessment of 'construction works'. A suite of standards will be produced within this framework to provide a system for the assessment of the aspects of sustainability of buildings (on the building level) based on a life cycle approach and containing quantitative assessment categories for the integrated performance of buildings, which will enable comparability of the results of assessments. Currently the proposed suite of standards covers environmental performance, health and comfort performance and the life cycle cost performance of buildings.


Although targeted towards buildings, elements of the standard may be relevant to construction more generally and hence be useful to support guidance for undertaking life cycle assessment which can be used in reviewing railway asset maintenance and renewal options

Links

http://www.cen.eu/cen/Sectors/Sectors/Construction/SustainableConstruction/Pages/CEN_TC350.aspx

http://www.cen.eu/cen/Sectors/Sectors/Construction/SustainableConstruction/Pages/CEN_TC350.aspx

esnats - d061 - mainline project...d5.2 assessment of environmental performance tools and methods...

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