Shoshanna Saxe, an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto, has authored a study that found it could take decades for subways to "pay back" the greenhouse gas emissions generated by their construction. ( TYLER IRVING / SUPPLIED PHOTO )Public transit is commonly considered among the most powerful weapons in any city’s arsenal in the fight against climate change, with a robust network of transit lines seen as a direct route to lowering greenhouse gas emissions. But according to new research from the University of Toronto, it can take decades for a major transit project like a subway to offset the carbon emissions generated by its construction. “We should be thinking about greenhouse gas emissions and the impact at all the stages of design,” she said. Emissions were also generated by the energy consumed at the subway construction sites and the movement of people and materials to and from construction locations.

Source: thestar March 11, 2017 12:00 UTC