Low-carbon geotechnical engineering (Task leader: Alessandro Tarantino)
The construction sector is one of the main sectors responsible for carbon emissions and accounts for 10% of the carbon footprint globally. Energy and environmental issues are increasingly becoming key factors in market competition. As a result, technological innovation aimed at reducing carbon emissions can be viewed as a major strategy to boost competitiveness of the construction industry. The geotechnical construction industry is a major component of the overall construction sector and is strategically important in infrastructure development (transportation, flood and landslide protection, building foundations, waste disposal). Industry and Research in the construction sector have been investing significantly in recent years to produce innovative low-carbon technologies. However, little innovation has been created in the geo-infrastructure industry, which is lagging behind other construction industry sectors. This Task Force will promote novel low-carbon design concepts, which may include eco-reinforced geomaterials, binders ‘recycled’ from waste, suction-reinforced geo-structures, ‘engineered’ vegetated and bare ground-atmosphere interfaces, shallow geothermal energy, and shallow soil carbon sequestration.