Besides meeting the minimal requirements, normally the decision to build storm water treatment systems and waste water treatment plants are dominated by economic reasons. But solutions for adaptation and mitigation in waste water treatment cause new carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions, which could enforce the effect of climate change. To quantify this effect, a carbon footprint of the typical structures of the urban drainage system are calculated. The different structures are calculated, evaluated, and compared regarding CO2-emissions, providing an additional parameter for decision support systems. The focus of the presentation will be the explanation of the calculation of climate-relevant emissions from the construction process.
The parameter CO2e could flank the economic aspects to find the optimum ratio in drainage comfort and flood protection, with minimization of CO2e emissions and economic aspects.
Source: Schmuck, S. 2021. Impacts of gray emissions from typical urban drainage system structures. Wastewater, energy production and emissions. AIWW 2021.
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Icon image: Geograph - Urban drainage systems
