Carbon Abatement and Its Cost in Construction Activities: Fid-Bau Portal

Carbon Abatement and Its Cost in Construction Activities

Carmichael, David G. / Malcolm, Cassandra J. / Balatbat, Maria C. A.

There is a growing awareness of the need for adopting sustainable practices in the construction industry. Included in this is an emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint of site construction activities as a supplement to the more commonly reported preconstruction-phase design and material selection issues. To date, only a modest amount of attention has focused on reducing the direct carbon emissions of site activities, but with growing legislation and social pressure, this will change. Construction activities rely on high-energy-use equipment, and so there is a case for looking at emission abatement options and their costs. The paper examines a number of major-energy-use site activities on two construction projects, their direct emissions, associated abatement options, and the respective costs of these abatements. Earthworks, demolition, and concrete placement are focused on. Abatement beyond business as usual (BAU) is examined and options ranked. Interestingly, it is found for the cases studied that simple options, such as reducing travel distances, sawcutting, and stockpiling waste prior to removal, have the most cost-effective abatement potential. It is acknowledged that each project is unique, and best options may vary from project to project. However, the methodology presented in the paper will stay the same across all projects, and the need to do similar studies across each project will remain so as to improve sustainability of the overall construction industry.