Renewable energy transition impacts on quarried material footprints
Construction, in almost any form, relies heavily upon extractive industries providing access to mined and quarried minerals, soils, sands, stones, and rock.
As aggregates, such materials are used throughout our built environment, from simple gravel access roads to major freeways; from multiple elements of your own home to iconic mega structures such as Sydney’s Opera House.
An industry generating thousands of regional jobs, and over $160 billion in revenue, quarrying’s significance to sustainable construction practices cannot be overstated.
Considering this importance to national development, Deakin University Ph.D. candidate Supriya Mahlan, in collaboration with Conundrum Holdings, is undertaking research to identify the impact of Australia’s changing energy infrastructure upon extractive industries. In so doing, developing more detailed contemporary and potential interpretations of quarried material life cycles.
The operation of quarries has always been under scrutiny for noise pollution, air pollution, and visual disturbances. Conundrum Holdings’ arduous 12-year developmental path towards quarrying at Wallan, near Melbourne, being a case in point. In responding to community and regulatory concerns that drive such delays, and to improve marketability, many companies have developed Environmental Products Declarations (EPDs). Internationally recognised, EPDs draw upon life-cycle assessment practices with the inclusion of international standards (ISOs) and product category rules (PCRs) and are used to declare a product’s environmental impact or ‘footprint’ over its life cycle. A holistic life cycle assessment of a product seeks inclusion of a product’s background resource consumption and environmental impacts. Such detailed analysis of extracted materials energy use has received little attention in previous lifecycle studies as it requires an extensive evaluation of the capital goods required to manufacture a product.
Capital goods may include the built infrastructure erected on site, site-based equipment and machinery for product manufacture, dedicated infrastructure for product transportation, and the infrastructure needed to bring energy sources specifically to a site. In the latter instance, this means only those lines developed to feed that site, not main transmission lines otherwise developed for regional power supply. Capital goods remain in service for a long time and usually do not change frequently, especially in relation to extractive industries. This being the case, it was assumed that the resources required for capital goods and their associated emissions could be gradually written off over a quarry’s long-life span.
However, with the rapid transition towards renewable energy sources, energy infrastructure is becoming the most evolving category among capital goods. For renewable energy systems, capital goods, such as alternative power generation and transmission, could potentially become a key contributor to the background emissions. This increased impact of changing energy infrastructure upon LCA calculations is due to increased demand for materials, particularly the rare earth elements, required to develop it and associated environmental impacts. Consequently, capital goods will become critical drivers for the environmental impact of products produced by extractive industries such as quarries.
Deakin University and Conundrum Holdings’ analysis is significant in identifying the opportunities and challenges facing the construction sector and its important quarried resources, as we seek paths toward a more sustainable, potentially regenerative, society.
CMPA looks forward to the results of Supriya’s study.
Supriya Mahlan, Ph.D. Candidate, School of Architecture & Built Environment, Faculty of Science, Engineering & Built Environment, Deakin University, Geelong
You must be logged in to post a comment Login