Strategies for the optimization of binomial energy saving landscape integration in road tunnels

Abstract

The treatment of the zones above the entrance portal to road tunnels (plant cultivation, structures, etc.) is a topic of major interest due to the far-reaching implications from the perspectives of landscape integration, energy savings in the electric lighting and, definitively, its environmental sustainability. This work analyzes these perspectives with special attention to the optimization of the binomial "landscape integration-energy savings" and analyzes some proposals from an applied point of view; that is, considering direct action on real road tunnels. The huge energy consumption due to the electrical lighting of long road tunnels and its financial and environmental impact make this topic one of the priorities of tunneling and lighting technology. In fact, this impact does not concern only energy consumption, but also the consumption of electrical materials (the more lighting that is installed, the higher the consumption), the recyclability of these materials, etc. Although the treatment of the tunnel environment and the introduction of vegetation of the appropriate species can decrease such consumption, the integration of this species with the landscape is a very important topic frequently ignored. In this work, both aspects are optimized. © 2014 WIT Press.