The Forestry Commission provides guidance on controlling and reducing emissions of civil engineering operations.Energy is used and carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are released during road construction and maintenance activities. The Forestry Commission have produced a technical note aimed at controlling and reducing these emissions, while still developing a sound road network. The document provides information on the planning and designing of roads, with specific focus on reducing density as far as possible, considering design alternatives, phasing the construction and timing the construction. A planning decision tree is provided to guide managers to select the option with the lowest emission impact. Tips are also provided to reduce, reuse and recycle during construction and maintenance operations. Information is provided on minimising soil disturbance, minimising the use of aggregates, bridge construction, upgrading existing forest roads, road maintenance and road use. A useful summary of good practice is provided at the end of the document.
The Forestry Commission report, free for download, is titled “Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from forest civil engineering”, and is published as Technical Note (December 2013). It was compiled by A Dickerson, B Nicoll and M Perks.
Source: http://www.forestry.gov.uk/PDF/FCTN020.pdf/$FILE/FCTN020.pdf