Andrew Mitchell is Director of Sustainability Operations at Mace
Within the built environment, we have become so used to discussions of carbon reduction that it has almost become synonymous with sustainable building. While carbon reduction remains critical, contractors and businesses must also consider energy consumption as a cornerstone of their overall strategy. Reducing energy demand automatically saves carbon.
“Carbon emissions and energy consumption are not mutually exclusive, they are deeply intertwined”
Mace has a moral imperative to conserve energy. As UK plc moves away from direct consumption of fossil fuels to an all-electric economy, we have an obligation to reduce demand. We need to improve our energy productivity to reduce the burden on the UK’s wider energy infrastructure.
Improvements in energy productivity will also offer a commercial reward.
The energy demand of a construction project is a huge part of the overall energy life cycle, with buildings that represent almost a third of global energy consumption. Companies cannot be complacent in reducing this type of consumption.
The right fuel is an invaluable tool
One driver of on-site energy consumption is the machinery we use to complete the work. Everything from excavators and cranes to vans and rigs are pieces of the energy and emissions puzzle. As most vehicles still rely on liquid fuels and internal combustion, they are a major contributor to global energy production and greenhouse gas emissions. The clear long-term answer to this, as we are seeing with consumer vehicles, is a move towards electrification.
It is encouraging to see smaller projects that have successfully electrified equipment and vehicles on site, such as one near-zero emissions development in Oslo. However, we are still far from deploying electric vehicles (EVs) at scale in places and it is important to move now to support energy reduction targets.
At Mace, we have completely removed diesel from our sites and made a switch to hydrotreated vegetable oil, a low-carbon fuel derived from reclaimed cooking oil. With solutions like these low-carbon fuels available now, the industry has a reliable interim solution, but still with an eye toward the future of electric vehicles.
Compensation with off-site
A widely established practice for construction is off-site manufacturing, for which there is a growing appreciation, with many components and fabrications prepared in a controlled factory environment and delivered to the same site. The well-established benefits of this practice include manufacturing efficiency, worker safety, and build quality, and we can add sustainability to that list.
By building off-site, there is a proven reduction in waste materials, and manufacturing efficiency means less energy is used to deliver the finished product. A great example of this is low carbon cassettes – a modular concrete structure capable of reducing the carbon incorporated in an office structure by up to 75 percent. By relying on off-site manufacturing, we can make places safer, more efficient and more energy efficient.
Monitoring and optimization through digital solutions
Beyond practical innovations that can improve energy use, we also need to continue to measure and analyze our performance against current energy targets, to help inform future ones. Digital measurement and more sophisticated data will be the key to insights for contractors and their clients. The use of big data (a comprehensive analytical process that uses the data your organization collects) to provide more granular information on energy levels will be critical to spot problem areas and support businesses to create energy reduction strategies. customized energy With environmental, social and governance reporting now integrated with overall financial reporting and business performance, adopting sophisticated analytics is fast becoming a must.
Carbon emissions and energy consumption are not mutually exclusive – they are deeply intertwined and both should be high priorities for the built environment. The fact that energy is somewhat overlooked is already being addressed with new commitments between industries.
Mace recently became the first major contractor to join the Climate Group’s EP100 Double Energy Productivity Commitment, which will see us use many of the above innovations to deliver the same level of work for 50 per cent of total demand of energy between now and 2048.
As we all continue to work to build more sustainably, let’s not forget the impact of reducing energy use on site.
