Last week, Pere Alfaras represented H&H at Bridges 2024 in the UK with a brief presentation on sustainable design. Pere described how carbon savings can be achieved through intentional engineering decisions. One H&H project, Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, totaled 2231 tons of CO2 saved because of our choice to replace the bridge with one deck rather than two. By simplifying the bridge design, we cut down the materials needed to complete the structure. The total savings amounted to an impressive 18.6% carbon reduction. We calculated that 2231 tons of CO2 is equivalent to 5 million miles driven by a gasoline-powered car.

Bridges 2024 was a two-day event for bridge engineers and owners to learn about resilience, sustainability, and innovation in bridge design and management.

Pere Alfaras, CEng MICE,* is a Senior Bridge Engineer with 15 years of bridge design experience. He has been involved in several major international projects, including large, complex infrastructure projects in Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Poland. He has provided technical direction and design for road and rail bridges, underground and elevated train stations, and other civil structures. He has been a visiting lecturer at UPC-BarcelonaTech University, providing lectures on finite element analysis at the undergraduate level.

Link to presentation video

*Licensed Engineer UK