"As an environmental regulator, our role is to lead by example and demonstrate what sustainable construction means in practice. Promoting resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions from our construction projects is an important part of that"
Andrew Powell, Technical Advisor at the Environment Agency
Bristol, UK: The Environment Agency has released a new aid to construction companies that will help them to calculate their carbon emissions. It is intended to help those working in the construction industry to make decisions on the sustainability of their construction activities.
The calculator uses an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the quantity of carbon dioxide in building materials and also the amount associated with transportation. It also takes into account personal travel, site energy use and waste management.
The Environment Agency acknowledges that it has a broad interest in construction and the associated resultant environmental impacts. The Agency’s construction spend was around £200 million in 2007-08 or circa 3% of the construction civil engineering sector.
The organisation says that, as a construction client it leads by example in sustainable construction, endeavouring to improving resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions.
Waste and recyclates
The new tool also helps with comparison of waste management options in construction.
During the trial of the tool, the Agency found in one flood defence scheme that one tonne of ordinary Portland cement emits 970kg of CO2 when made in a wet kiln, whilst ash cement gives off 585kg and slag cement emits 280kg. A clear win for cement containing recycled materials.
With 1.5 million tonnes of cement used in flood defence work in 2005/6, this highlights how the choice of materials can help achieve a significant reduction in carbon output, according to the Environment Agency.
The carbon calculator was developed by the Agency working with Jacobs with the aim of application to its own construction activities, which will commence with major projects in November this year.
These Agency projects are predominantly fluvial and coastal construction projects and the organisation says that it is happy to share the tool with other construction clients, contractors and consultants.
The calculator can be found on the Environment Agency’s website.
This tool helps the comparison of the sustainability in terms of CO2 production of different designs and aims to influence option choice at the options appraisal stage.
The Environment Agency says that it will identify where it can make 'big win' carbon savings on specific projects and can also be used to calculate the organisation’s total carbon footprint from construction and hence put it in a position to reduce the footprint.
It is also of more general interest and the tool is well worth a view to see the comparison of carbon dioxide production from a range of products including aggregates and cement products.
Comment
Andrew Powell, Technical Advisor at the Environment Agency, said:
“At the Environment Agency we are always looking to ways of reducing the environmental impact from our own construction projects. We spend around £200 million a year on construction projects, which accounts for about 3% of the construction civil engineering sector.
“With this in mind over the past year, together with Jacobs Consultants, we developed a new tool for calculating the carbon footprint from construction projects. We have been trialling the tool as part of environmental audits on the building of new flood defences schemes.
“As an environmental regulator, our role is to lead by example and demonstrate what sustainable construction means in practice. Promoting resource efficiency and reducing carbon emissions from our construction projects is an important part of that.”