Environmental and field performance of the warm asphalt mixes technology with a "ready to use" bitumen

At present, one of the key challenges is to concentrate on saving natural resources for future generations while bringing industrial activities into a more stable long-term balance between environmental preservation and costs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1999), clean air is now recognized as a basic requirement for human health and well-being. Moreover, some countries have been continuously working since the 1992 Rio Conference to reduce the airborne emissions produced by engineering processes. The warm mix asphalts (WMA) are a relatively recent technique, developed in response to the needs of the road industry of decreasing the energy consumptions, the emissions and the workers exposure. Studies carried out in Europe and in the United States show that these techniques allow to reduce the energy consumption until 35 % and to reduce CO2 emissions until 40 % (FHWA-PL-08-007, 2008) (Hurley and Prowell, 2006). In France, the main actors of the design, the implementation and the maintenance of the road infrastructures, the public road network and the urban public place signed in March 2009 an agreement of voluntary commitment with the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Town and Country Planning (MEEDDAT), in which they make in particular a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of the order of 33 % to the horizon 2020 (Convention d'engagement volontaire, 2009). (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.