Zero-emission construction sites are on the way
More and more construction sites are cutting their greenhouse gas emissions. According to a new report, virtually all construction in Oslo could be zero-emission by 2025.
In Oslo’s Grünerløkka neighbourhood, the ground is trembling and an intense sound fills the air between the apartment blocks in Nordre gate. The pile-driving machine is inserting yet another pile deep into the ground. The machine runs on biodiesel, just like all the other motorized machinery and vehicles on the construction site. The 38 new apartments are being built without the use of fossil fuels. This means higher fuel costs, but project manager Carl-Jørgen Blakstad of Veidekke Entreprenør thinks it is worth it:
“The extra cost is shared between us and the developer, Aspelin Ramm, who have specified fossil-free construction. This is intended to be an environmental project from start to finish. Veidekke wants to be a frontrunner in the development of eco-friendly construction sites, so it’s important for us to accumulate experience.”
The demolition of the old buildings on the plot was also completed without the use of fossil fuels. The new apartment building will be constructed from solid timber and will be heated with energy from geothermal wells. There will be green areas at both ground and roof level to improve surface water management.
This housing project in Nordre gate is one of a number of fossil-free construction sites currently operating in Oslo
When the project is completed in the autumn of 2019, the timber building will have a green (living) roof and will be heated using 300-metre-deep geothermal wells (Illustration: Allianse Arkitekter).
Developers determine the pace of change
Work on reducing atmospheric emissions is taking place at private- and public-sector construction sites in Oslo. Fossil-free building sites are a step along the path towards zero-emission construction processes, and the next step may come more rapidly than many people think. This is the finding of a report prepared by DNV GL for the Climate Agency.
Read the report in English here!
The report sketches two scenarios for cutting emissions from construction sites in Oslo. In one of them, almost all emissions could be eliminated by the end of 2025. This scenario is dependent on all developers, both private- and public-sector, requiring contractors to use zero-emission construction technology. If such requirements are to take effect on construction sites in 2025, then they will need to be included in tendering documents from 2021 onwards. Eliminating emissions by the end of 2025 is also dependent on all construction machinery becoming electric, powered either by batteries or hydrogen.
A requirement for construction sites in Oslo to be zero-emission could help speed up the pace of technological development. Eliminating emissions by the end of 2025 will also be dependent on an increase in international demand for zero-emission machinery, as this will contribute to increasing the range and reducing the price of such machinery.
We want to take our share of responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
Ole Henrik Ystehede, The Contractors Association – Building and Construction EBA
Under the second scenario, we would have to wait until 2030 for almost all emissions to be eliminated from construction sites in Oslo. In this scenario, DNV GL envisages that the sector will take longer to transition to zero-emission technology, particularly in the case of heavy machinery. Partly as the result of demand in Norway, the first models without internal combustion engines are now entering the market.
The municipality’s own construction sites are important
Construction sites account for approximately one-fifth of greenhouse gas emissions in Oslo (figures for 2015 from Statistics Norway). In addition, diesel-fuelled engines and generators cause local air pollution. In most places it is possible to use eco-friendly sources of energy – such as district heating, geothermal heating, or electricity – for heating and drying during construction activities.
The City of Oslo is itself a major participant in the construction sector and as such can hasten the adoption of eco-friendly practices. Over the next few years, the municipality will invest NOK 30 billion in buildings, roads, and water and wastewater infrastructure.
Since 2017, the municipality has required that its own construction projects be fossil-free, as well as requiring that contractors connect buildings to the district heating network during the construction phase where possible. The new procurement strategy that has applied since October, 2017, specifies that the machinery used should employ zero-emission technology, as far as this is possible.
Moves to make a zero-emission Port of Oslo
Businesses in the sector welcome such requirements, as long as they are allowed sufficient time to find technical solutions. The Contractors Association – Building and Construction EBA has asked for a requirement for completely zero-emission construction sites when new subway and rail tunnels are excavated under Oslo, and has also asked that indications of such a requirement should be given several years before contracts are put out to tender.
Ole Henrik Ystehede (Foto: Svandhild Blakstad/Byggeindustrien
“We want to take our share of responsibility for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement,” says Ole Henrik Ystehede, the EBA’s director for Oslo/Akershus/Østfold. “If we learn early enough that ambitious climate demands will be imposed, we can drive innovation forward by demanding zero-emission solutions from machinery manufacturers, equipment suppliers and contractors.”
The sector is adapting
Nordseter School at Nordstrand is one of several dozen places where the City of Oslo is operating fossil-free construction sites right now. When the renovation programme for the old school building is completed, the combined primary and lower secondary school will be one of the biggest in Oslo, with 1,200 pupils.
Once again, most of the machinery is running on biodiesel, although some machines are electric. Geothermal wells, which will help to heat the completed building, will also heat and dry the building during construction. The school will be an ultra low-energy building, also known as a Passive House, and will produce its own energy using solar cells on its walls and roof.
The fact that the developer is imposing environmental requirements is forcing contractors to make an effort, which can increase the pace of green transition, confirms Eivind Olsen, the project manager at Oslo’s Municipal Undertaking for Educational Buildings and Property:
“One example is the lifting equipment they are using to install the façade, where an electric lift isn’t the optimal solution. The contractor wanted to use a diesel lift, and asked for an exception from the zero-emission construction site requirement. But after we checked with competing rental businesses, the business we were already dealing with was suddenly able to offer a lift that ran on biodiesel.”
Geothermal wells were drilled before rehabilitation work started on this old school building at Nordseter. Heat from the wells will be used both during construction and once the building is completed (Photo: Svein Ulheim).
Nordseter School will generate its own energy with solar cells on the walls and the roof.
Back in Nordre gate in Oslo’s Grünerløkka neighbourhood, project manager Carl-Jørgen Blakstad at Veidekke Entreprenør agrees that the sector will manage to adapt to the requirements that are being imposed. He is keeping a keen eye on costs, however.
“Some of the equipment already runs on electricity, and it will certainly be possible to get the rest to do so. So we’ll see whether this makes our projects more expensive or not. In addition, it will be important to have enough capacity for electrical networks at building sites.”
Read more:
- Review of implementation of fossil free building sites
- Guide to arranging fossil- and emission free solutions on building sites
The benefits of switching to an electric van
This story was originally published in Norwegian in May, 2018
