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 People are increasingly aware of the impact of carbon emissions on climate change. Well-designed infrastructure has a major role in creating an environment in which people and businesses can alter their behaviour – in their travel habits, their consumption of water and power, and in how their waste is managed.
Our quality of life depends on infrastructure. There would be little economic activity without energy generation and distribution, water supply and disposal, transportation by rail, road, sea and air, and waste management.
Individual infrastructure assets are part of larger networks. These in turn are interdependent. So without energy there is no water supply, without transport there is no waste management.
The challenge for the engineer in the low carbon age is to understand and minimise the carbon emissions associated with designing, constructing, operating and maintaining this network, while still meeting society´s needs.
Moving the UK to a low carbon economy requires:
- Rapid shift of energy supply to low carbon sources
- Electrification of transport
- Reduced demand for energy, transport, water and waste management facilities
In the short-term, a concerted effort is needed to realise quick wins through energy efficiency, demand management and the rolling out at scale of proven low carbon technologies. In the longer-term, government and industry must use infrastructure to make low carbon behaviour as easy as possible and over time, the norm. The most obvious example is that a progressive decarbonisation of energy supply opens up the possibility of lower carbon public and private transport.
Individual pieces of low carbon infrastructure are not enough. We need to understand the carbon implications of interactions between assets and how they will be used by people and machines. This will require greater knowledge-sharing and joint working between engineering and built environment professionals of all disciplines.
This report recommends that:
- Government must create an environment in which the life-cycle carbon impact of infrastructure assets and networks is key to decision-making.
- Infrastructure owners and clients should focus on implementing efficiency and demand management measures and create clear plans for rolling out proven low carbon technologies.
- Engineers and other built environment professionals must develop a systems approach to managing carbon impact across the UK´s interdependent energy, transport, waste and water networks.
Download the full report now, or read it online:
To find out more about specific regional issues, download the State of the Nation Low Carbon Infrastructure regional briefing sheets:
You can also read the following topic specific annexes to the report:
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