NAPA President Mike Acott testified before the U.S. Congress that the asphalt pavement industry is on the verge of several major breakthroughs in sustainable asphalt pavement technology. Acott briefed the House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation about how asphalt reuse/recycling, warm mix, Perpetual Pavement, and porous asphalt will help pave the way to a more sustainable future.

The focus of the hearing was on the role of research in mitigating the impact of transportation infrastructure on the environment, with an emphasis on climate change. The Committee on Science and Technology will write the research portion of the next transportation authorization bill.
"The hearing addressed a broad range of options for addressing climate change and improving water quality," said Acott. "The asphalt pavement industry has a history of taking steps proactively to reduce impacts on the environment. The products we have developed - warm mix, reuse/recycling, Perpetual Pavement, and porous asphalt - are ready to be adopted even more widely. An accelerated deployment program could lead to big changes within five years."

Subcommittee Chairman David Wu (D-OR) asked the panel to identify data gaps that should be closed. Acott responded, "In my view, we do not have an acceptable model to account for CO2 production in the life cycle of pavements. A greenhouse gas model for pavements must include raw materials acquisition. For asphalt pavements, that would include the energy used to manufacture asphalt cement in the refinery. For Portland cement concrete pavements, that would include both the energy and the process greenhouse gas emissions in cement manufacturing. We then have to consider the carbon footprint throughout the full life cycle of the pavement."

Representative Ben Lujan (D-NM) acknowledged that the asphalt pavement industry has already reduced its emissions by 97 percent and asked Acott how the industry could improve on that. Acott responded that the 97 percent reduction was achieved using "end-of-pipe" controls. He contrasted this with warm mix, which can reduce emissions at the source.