At the end of July I went to the Civil Contractors Federation, Victorian Branch Victorian Civil Construction Conference 2009. A very good event it was too, with a wide range of topical issues addressed by a very knowledgeable panel of speakers.

The opening address was delivered by the Victorian Treasurer John Lenders MP who was impressive in his grasp of the projects and the dollars doled out to make this year the biggest infrastructure spend in the state’s history and keep the Victorian economical momentum ahead of any recessionary influences which might drag it back to the levels of some of it’s less fortunate state brothers. “35,000 new jobs would be created, the state would maintain its AAA credit rating, the program would be family friendly and the budget would be one of recovery.”

Spending on infrastructure would be of the order of $12 billion in 09/10, $10.5 billion in 10/11 and $8.0 billion in 11/12 before coming back to around historical levels of $6.0 billion in 12/13. Exactly what the audience wanted to hear. Questioned on just how these projects were going to get through the approval processes necessary to allow actual dirt to be moved the Treasurer was not quite as confident but assured delegates that the government was aware of problems in that area and were addressing them as a matter of urgency. Let’s hope they are successful.

So much for Victoria. However, one paper I was particularly interested in dealt with an issue that will affect all contractors across Australia ultimately. The industry’s carbon footprint. This VicRoads initiated study carefully analyses the GHG emissions of the Mickleham Road Duplication Stage 2, a joint National Earth Award winning project constructed by BMD Constructions. The $13.3 million project comprised 2.4 km of duplication, new and upgraded traffic signals, associated street lighting, service relocations, drainage, construction of off road shared user path and allowance for a future third lane in each direction.

Carbon Footprint: Project objectives

• Establish a framework to allow Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) to be calculated for road construction

• Identify a range of solutions to minimise emissions and develop abatement and mitigation strategies

• To test the framework on a live construction project

GHG Emissions Framework

• Construction Phase Only

• Focuses on direct and indirect GHG emissions

– Direct (operation of machinery & equipment onsite)

– Indirect (production and transport of materials)

• Standardisation of key input data (i.e. m³ of concrete, tonnes of steel)

Carbon Footprint Results

• 1,820t of greenhouse gas emissions

• 75% embodied energy of materials

• 22% on-site transport

• 2% transport of material

• 1% on-site electricity

• = 760t CO₂ – e/km

• = 190t CO₂ – e/lane km

Carbon Footprint Results: Embodied energy of materials

• Concrete – 40%

• Cement Treated Crushed Rock – 25%

• Aggregate/Base – 19%

• Hot Mix Asphalt – 10%

• Steel Reinforcement – 4%

• Other Steel – 2%

Carbon Footprint Results

• 2002t to be purchased from an accredited provider

• approximately 7,500 trees

• approximately $25,000

• equates to 40 million ‘black balloons’

Carbon Reduction Opportunities

Case study: Concrete vs Asphalt Shared User Path

• 2.4 km, 3m wide shared user path

– Concrete: 232t of CO₂ – e

– Asphalt: 45t of CO₂ – e

• 80% reduction in carbon footprint

Key Learnings

• Recycled and/or Alternative Materials

• Embodied Energy of Materials

• Transport and Onsite Impacts (embodied energy and on site transport account for 93-97% of total emissions from road construction)

Next Steps

• Further testing and application of the framework

• Establishment of base carbon footprint on projects

• Development of a Sustainable Procurement Policy

• Further R&D in conjunction with suppliers

• Extend framework to operational phase

• Share learnings with broader construction industry

• International trends

The above is a shortened version of an excellent paper presented by Adam McGuire, project director VicRoads and Peter Ryan, Victorian general manager, BMD Constructions. For the full story put in a web search for “VicRoads Greenhouse Gas Emission Framework 2008” – it’s an interesting look into the future.