The Carbon 4 study for the “Sustainable Equipment Meetings” prefigures the new technological and economic balance in the construction equipment sector.
Following the first edition of the “Sustainable Equipment Meetings” organised by Kiloutou last May, Carbone 4 carried out a study on the economic and technological challenges of the sector’s environmental transformation, which revealed the positive impact in terms of CO2 emissions of alternative engines (electric, bioGNV, green hydrogen) for several pieces of construction equipment.
The study focused on a 2.4t excavator and an 800L articulated skid-steer loader powered by electricity, green hydrogen or bioNGV. It found that the introduction of these new engines could reduce CO2 emissions by up to 50% over the life cycle of the equipment compared to traditional diesel equipment. The study points out that first generation biodiesels are generally more emissive than traditional diesel, a trend that could be reversed with second generation biodiesels.
From an economic point of view, the total cost of ownership (TCO) of a traditional diesel excavator and loader is currently 30-50% lower than that of alternative equipment (grid electric, genset or powerbank, bio-CNG). This is mainly due to higher production costs than for traditional diesel equipment. This gap is expected to narrow in the coming years as battery production costs fall.
Aware of the need for very short-term actions, participants stressed that eco-driving should be promoted to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. Eco-driving training schools report gains of 15 to 30% in fuel consumption by applying these more virtuous behaviours.
At this 2nd edition of the “Sustainable Equipment Meetings”, Carbone 4 also outlined a calculation method for harmonising the sector’s carbon accounting. The aim of this approach is to measure the carbon impact of each piece of equipment and thus enable clients to estimate the emissions linked to each site, but also to identify and select the most virtuous equipment during the tendering phases. A working group will be responsible for defining the concrete modalities for subsequent validation by ADEME.
The event gave participants the opportunity to exchange views with Sandrine Gourlet and John Tanguy, respectively Executive Director in charge of external relations and Director of Strategy of the Société du Grand Paris (SGP), on their expectations in terms of the environment. These discussions underlined that the sector would also depend on the regulation and incentives that the public authorities could put in place in the coming years. A working group dedicated to developing institutional proposals will also be set up.
“The work of Carbone 4 confirms that the environmental transformation of our sector will have economic impacts for the entire value chain. More than ever, these meetings will enable us to anticipate technological choices and will contribute to making our sector-wide carbon footprint reduction objectives more reliable. With the support of the professional federations, we now want to finalise the harmonisation of carbon accounting for construction equipment and make proposals to institutional players to accelerate the environmental transformation of the sector.”
Olivier Colleau, Chief Executive Officer of Kiloutou Group
The next “Sustainable Equipment Meetings” will be held on 29 June 2022.