CO2 - Quantifizierung von typischen mobilen Arbeitsmaschinen

 

Motivation
In order to slow down the global warming, every industry has to do their contribution to reduce greenhouse gases (CO2e).A worldwide initiative to reduce the greenhouse gases started with the Kyoto protocol in 2005. Today, the European Union has pledged to reduce the CO2e by

  • 40% from 1990 to 2030
  • 30% from 2005 to 2030
  • 80% from 1990 to 2050

In order to achieve these reductions and due to unsuccessful voluntary commitment from e.g. the car industry, the European Union is implementing CO2e regulations in each sector. The European Union has shown keen interest to regulate the CO2e emissions in agricultural and construction equipment. The European legislation demands all large companies from year 2017, a yearly sustainability report in which sustainability aspects including the supply chain are described. The main focus lays in describing precisely objectives and measures to achieve them.

E.g. machine related to their processes  
A modern cold recycler which mills, recycles asphalt and does paving is producing more CO2 emissions than for e.g. a conventional paver. As shown in the figure from the view of the whole road maintenance process of a specific road, the cold recycler replaces several machines.From the point of view of the “process”, the cold recycler is emitting less CO2emissions.

 

General approach
The overall aim is to develop a resilient scientific method to quantify the CO2e emissions and its evolution in the timescale: past –present –near future. In the top of the figure are listed the four CO2e saving potentials for mobile machinery. Based on the data obtained through the mobile machinery, it’s possible to apply the method to quantify the CO2e reduction. The results obtained with this method are verified in common accord by the European Union commission and by the Industry. In order to quantify the CO2e reduction, it is necessary to quantify the CO2e emissions of the entire construction process in the past, in the present and in the future. The obtained difference represents the CO2e reduction.

 

CO2e quantification method
The four saving potentials have a direct impact on the mobile machinery. Because a lot of factors influence the CO2e emissions, we are considering not only the machines but also the material and the process. In a first step the process is divided into small subprocesses. The CO2e emissions of each subprocessare quantified. The quantification of the total CO2e emissions of the entire process results out of the addition of the CO2e quantification of each subprocess.

Current research
Aim of this project is to further develop the scientifically substantiated method on how the reduction of CO2emissions in the construction sector can be quantified and validated. Reference applications of the mobile machine in the building construction, road construction, earthmoving and quarry sectors will be defined and parametrised in order to quantify the CO2emissions. The method will then be validated with data from construction sites.
In the end, this method will be implemented into a software tool, which will be able to hold data from the past and show the development trend. With this tool, politics and industries will not only be able to quantify the CO2emission for a specified process, but also reduce the CO2emission by simulating and optimising the construction process.

For the validation process on the construction sites, we were provided with a vibration measuring device from ptc.https://www.pce-instruments.com/english/measuring-instruments/test-meters/data-logger-data-logging-instrument-kat_40040_1.htm