Capital Goods Data in Asphalt Products

Asphalt use has astronomically increased since the 1900s, contributing to numerous environmental impacts. Among various archetypes, buildings and equipment stand out as significant contributors to capital goods and infrastructure environmental impacts in the asphalt value chain. In this work, we utilised the ecoinvent database, to analyse the impact of the inclusion and exclusion of capital goods in asphalt. The relative contribution of capital goods in asphalt to a suite of Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) indicators was estimated based on the types of capital goods available in ecoinvent. Results showed that transport infrastructure and energy infrastructure accounted for 4% and 21% of Land Use Impacts, respectively. However, we also that found that some inconsistencies in scope affected the accuracy of capital goods’ contribution. As Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) rely on comparative data, an understanding of capital goods’ contribution will support improved and realistic data on capital goods in the LCIA of asphalt and its variants.