WELCOME
EUPAVE, the European Concrete Paving Association, was formed in 2007 with the objective to promote all cement and concrete products to the transport infrastructure.
Registration is now open for the:
Click here to see SEMINAR and SITE VISIT website.
For the full programme and registration form in English, click here.
For the full programme and registration form in French, click here.
Registrations are open until 25 May 2012.
We are looking forward to meeting you in Paris.
Successful debate on “Concrete pavements contribute to decarbonising of transport” with the European Parliament and the European Commission
EUPAVE held a successful debate on “Concrete pavements contribute to decarbonising of transport” on 21st of March 2012 at the Renaissance Brussels Hotel with participants from EUPAVE members and stakeholders. The event focused on the potential contribution of concrete roads to reduce GHG emissions from road freight transport.
|
|
Mr. David Jones, Vice-President of EUPAVE, welcomed the participants and officially handed out the latest EUPAVE Brochure “Concrete pavements contribute to decarbonising of transport” to MEP Philippe De Backer (ALDE, Belgium), from the European Parliament's Committee on Transport & Tourism.
|
MEP Philippe De Backer opened the debate with a speech strengthening the role that road transport plays in the transport system and emphasizing the importance of transport infrastructure for the well-functioning of the internal market and economy in Europe.
|
Mrs. Charlotte Milachowski, from the Centre for Building Materials, Technische Universität München- Germany, delivered a presentation on the life cycle assessment for road construction and use. According to Mrs. Milachowski, the potential environmental impact due to the service period on the motorways is 100 times more than due to the construction process. Moreover, Mrs. Milachowski emphasised the effect of pavement surface structure on fuel consumption.
|
|
|
|
Mr. Luc Rens, Managing Director of EUPAVE, presented EUPAVE's latest brochure “Concrete pavements contribute to decarbonising of transport”. Mr. Rens highlighted the joint conclusion that fuel consumption is lower on concrete pavements compared to other type of pavements in a range of about 1 to 6 %. In this sense, Rens insisted that concrete pavements are the most favourable option in terms of life-cycle cost and defended that they also constitute an easy and effective solution in the decarbonising of freight road transport.
|
|
Finally, Mr. Jan Szulczyk, from the Land Transport Unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Mobility & Transport, outlined the European Commission's vision and strategy for the future of transport. That strategy, which is defined in the European Commission's 2011 White Paper, intends to build a competitive transport system and cut carbon emissions in transport by 60% by 2050. From what Mr. Szulczyk explained, it is clear that concrete roads can effectively help the European Commission to achieve its targets on road transport decarbonisation.
|
|
After the presentations and discussion, Mr. David Jones, Vice-President of EUPAVE, concluded the event by stating that sustainable infrastructure in general and concrete pavements in particular can already make a difference when addressing some of the current and future transport challenges and needs.
|
|
The programme closed with a networking cocktail.
|
EUPAVE proudly presents its new publication: "Concrete Pavements Contribute to Decarbonising of Transport" and announces the official presentation of the brochure to European Institutions
Combating climate change is a major environmental concern for the European Union. Surface transport represents 28% of total CO2 emissions of which 75% are generated by road transport. Consequently, developing a more sustainable transport network is a priority.
|
|
EUPAVE's new brochure aims at disseminating the benefits of concrete against global warming, focusing on the fact that trucks consume less fuel on rigid pavements compared to flexible pavements. This statement, supported by international studies and researches of which the results are shown in this document, must become a key variable in decision making processes for sustainable infrastructure and, hopefully, become part of evaluation procedures for green public procurement.
|
The brochure will officially be handed out to MEP Mr. Philippe De Backer, Member of European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism, during the press event on 21 March 2012.
The publication is offered free in PDF format, here. Send an email to info@eupave.eu to request a printed version (Members:€3, Non-Members:€25 ; plus shipping cost.).
SAVE THE DATE: 7-8 June 2012
DEDICATED BUS and TRAM LANES
Seminar and Site Visit, Paris
The EUPAVE Brochure “Concrete Roads: a Smart and Sustainable Choice” is now available in 6 languages:
|
|
* English,
* Dutch,
* French,
* Spanish,
* Turkish,
* Greek.
|
The EUPAVE brochure “Concrete Roads: a Smart and Sustainable Choice” has been a real success story from the day it has been published in September 2009. It has been downloaded already over 6700 times since then, which is downloaded about 240 times monthly, and in addition, it has been reproduced by several EUPAVE members in their native language.
Recently, the Hellenic Cement Industry Association has announced the translation of the brochure in Greek, which brings the total number of languages to 6.
And this is not the end: Soon a seventh language will be added to the list: a Portuguese version is in preparation today.
Please visit "EUPAVE Publications" for more information.
HeidelbergCement tests innovative concrete construction methods on the A94 motorway
In order to track down the optimum road surface, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) and the German Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) have been testing new road surfaces for many years in Germany. HeidelbergCement AG also provided stimulation for new construction methods using their own pilot section in Geseke, Germany.
|
|
HeidelbergCement has been carrying out intensive tests on new, innovative concrete road surfaces under different load and utilization conditions. Out of several tests, the one with the main section with a continuously reinforced jointless pavement has proven to be the most successful. A new characteristics is now added to this pavement: "grinding texture".
|
During grinding, longitudinal grooves are ground into the concrete surface using a shaft equipped with diamond grinding wheels.
Siegfried Riffel, Project Manager for Infrastructure in the Development and Applications Department at HeidelbergCement, explains: "This grinding texture provides several advantages: it can be carried out independent of the weather conditions, and it produces an absolutely smooth, extremely low-noise good-grip road surface, as any irregularities from the surface production process are ground out.” This procedure proved to be most impressive on the test section in Geseke, with a reduction in noise of up to four decibels in comparison to the reference noise level.
|
In addition to grinding, blacktopping is applied along some part of the motorway A94. One of the advantages of the composite pavement is that the asphalt layer protects the concrete from alkali penetration and frost thawing agents.
|
|
EUPAVE acknowledges Heidelberg Cement for the authorization to publish the study as well as the innovative work on the A94.
Click here for the full press release.
EUPAVE will soon release its new brochure “CONCRETE PAVEMENTS CONTRIBUTE to DECARBONISING of TRANSPORT”...
The new brochure highlights the contribution of concrete pavements to a sustainable European infrastructure by CO2 reduction in transportation. The reduced fuel consumption of heavy vehicles riding on a non-deformable pavement, based on several researches, leads to substantial savings in transport cost and emissions.
One of the studies mentioned in this publication is “FUEL COST CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING TRUCK ROLLING RESISTANCE ON DIFFERENT PAVEMENT TYPES” by Swedish researchers Mr. C.A. Lenngren and Mr. L. Fäldner, Lund University, Sweden. The paper was submitted at the 11th International Symposium on Concrete Roads, Seville, Spain, 2010. This study deals with assessing pavement hysteresis by evaluating falling weight deflectometer time histories. The results show that the energy lost in the asphalt pavement is four times higher than in the concrete pavement. The research supports choosing Portland cement concrete for high volume truck roads.
|
|
For more information on this research, which is still being continued, you can download paper here.
|
"METHODS, IMPACTS, and OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CONCRETE PAVEMENT LIFE CYCLE" by Concrete Sustainability Hub @MIT
Authors: N. Santero, A. Loijos, M. Akbarian, J. Ochsendorf
|
The research carried out by Concrete Sustainability Hub at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is published in "METHODS, IMPACTS, and OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CONCRETE PAVEMENT LIFE CYCLE" on August 2011. This publication contributes to a comprehensive approach on sustainability of the transport infrastructure.
|
|
Life cycle assessment (LCA) offers a thorough approach to evaluate and improve the environmental impacts of pavements. This research explores and advances three key areas relevant to the pavement LCA field: methodology, quantification, and the supporting science. Moreover, this research supports ongoing standardization efforts by proposing good-practice concepts for conducting any pavement LCA.
EUPAVE is grateful to the Concrete Sustainability Hub at MIT for the research and the authorization to announce the report, which is supported by the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and the Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) Research and Education Foundation.
Click on the image to download the full publication.
THE NEW EUPAVE PUBLICATION IS AVAILABLE NOW!
|
|
EUPAVE releases its new publication "LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION AND USE".
|
The brochure emphasizes the growing importance of ecological factors in road construction due to environmental considerations in politics and society. The study is based on the evaluation of environmental impact of motorways, that is performed through a life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040.
The research presented in this publication was rewarded with the “Best Marketing Paper Award” during 11th International Symposium on Concrete Roads, Seville, Spain.
The publication can be downloaded here. Send an email to info@eupave.eu to request a hardcopy of the brochure.
UPCOMING EVENTS
For more events, click here.