Quantifying Carbon Emissions Generated by Monorail Transits: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach

The use of rail transits results in the generation of a large amount of carbon emissions. Throughout the life cycle of a rail transit system, huge amounts of carbon are emitted, which contributes to the threat posed by carbon emission on the city ecosystem. Despite the many methods previously proposed to quantify carbon emissions from rail transit systems, a method that can be applied to measure carbon emissions of monorail systems is yet to be developed. We have used the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to propose a method that can be used to quantify carbon emissions from monorail transits. The life cycle of a monorail transit system was divided into four stages (production, construction, use, and end-of-life). A monorail transit line segment in Chongqing, China, was selected for a case study. The results show that the “use” stage of the monorail transit line system significantly increases (93.2%) carbon emissions, while the “end-of-life” stage does not contribute significantly to the total carbon emitted. The processes of generation of steal, concrete, and cement are the three leading processes that contribute to the emission of carbon dioxide. The percentages of carbon emitted during these processes are 32%, 29.6%, and 13.3%, respectively. Prestressed concrete activity accounts for the largest proportion (91.1%) of the total carbon emissions. The results presented herein can potentially help in realizing sustainable development and developing green transportation.