Influence of the development of low carbon infrastructure in future - Essay Example

s carbon emissions would mean that certain tradeoffs must be made between meeting the societal needs the way they were traditionally met, and achieving the new objective. In this respect, the Civil engineering profession has a role to play in developing structures that will be productive at the same rate as the traditional and current structures, may it be in terms of energy, safety or economic production, but which reduces the carbon emission to the lowest level possible. Carbon emission is an occurrence that is associated with every stage of the civil engineers project development work, starting from the design face, all the way to the construction, usage, maintenance and the dismantling of the infrastructure (ICE, 2011:7).

Thus, the role of the civil engineers in the development of low carbon infrastructure must start right from the design face, until the structure is completed and put in use. Thus, these are the several ways through which the civil engineers can influence the development of low carbon infrastructure: The application of more carbon intensive technology during the construction face is one of the ways through which the civil engineers can contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions by the structure in its lifetime.

This is because; the use of more carbon intensive means that there will be significantly reduced usage of carbon during the phase of usage of the infrastructure that has been developed (ICE, 2011:3). Therefore, considering the fact that the time span utilized in the development of an infrastructure is too short compared to the life time use of the infrastructure, it follows that the use of more carbon intensive during construction will help to reduce the overall future emission of the structure during its prolonged lifetime (ICE, 2011:4).

Therefore, the greatest influence of the civil engineers in the development of the low carbon infrastructure can be realized at the project appraisal stage, which will help the civil engineer