Circular Economy

The lineal system of our economy, which is based on extraction, manufacture, use and disposal  has reached its limits. The depletion of a number of natural resources begin to glimpse. We cannot build our future on a “take, make and dispose” model.

The Circular Economy appears as a new economic model, closely linked to the concept of Sustainability. Its objective is that the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible, minimizing waste that ends up in landfills and the extraction of resources. This also results in a reduction in energy costs and a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions.

Today is the main 2020 strategy in the European Union to generate growth and employment. For Acciona, it’s also a strategic environmental objective. For this reason it has been included in the new Sustainability Master Plan 2020. In this sense, the company have worked on the development of an ambitious Waste Management Plan for the promotion of the Circular Economy within all the company.

Life cycle analysis

ACCIONA uses in numerous projects the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) as a methodology that identifies and evaluates the environmental impacts of a product or service (as regards consumption of resources: materials, water, energy, waste generation, etc.) throughout all the stages of its existence (extraction, production, distribution, use and disposal).In this way, it helps in the evaluation of different sustainable alternatives for project solutions.

By using this methodology, it is possible to verify a product or service under an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).  

Some examples in this  matter are:

• EPD in the road N-340 of Elche project, being the first infrastructure of this kind that obtains an Environmental Product Declaration at a global level.
• An EPD for the railway viaduct built on the North-North-east stretch of the Otero de Bodas-Cernadilla High-Speed Rail line, making ACCIONA the first private Company in the world to obtain an EPD for a civil works infrastructure.
• EPD of the El Romero Solar photovoltaic power plant in Chile.
• LCA of   the 750 ml Viña Mayor Crianza wine bottle..
• LCA of a extrusion process and a new material for tiles production.
• LCA of a isolation panel with Phase Change Materials (PCM’S).
• LCA for four types of purification stations.
• Comparative LCA of solutions in composite materials against concrete sheet piling.
• LCA of a biological coating to prevent corrosion of steel structures by microbial action.
• LCA of bioremediation technology facing traditional technologies for the treatment of contaminated soil.
• LCA of composite waterproofing plates in tunnels and its comparative versus the traditional solution of concrete lining.
• Development of  a methodology and tool of evaluation of the sustainability of roads taking into consideration the environmental impacts from an LCA perspective, withtin the framework of the European project LCE4ROADS.
• LCA of Bannur windfarm, India.