New tool to help reduce carbon footprint from construction projects
A new online tool that will help construction companies plan carbon-wise projects and reduce their carbon footprint has been launched by the Environment Agency.
The spreadsheet-based tool, which from November 2007 will be mandatory to use during the planning stage on all major Environment Agency construction projects, is now being made available to other construction companies, government bodies and consultants.
Andrew Powell, Technical Advisor at the Environment Agency, said: “At the Environment Agency we are always looking to ways of reducing the environmental impact from our own construction projects. We spend around £200 million a year on construction projects, which accounts for about 3% of the construction civil engineering sector.
“With this in mind over the past year, together with Jacobs Consultants, we developed a new tool for calculating the carbon footprint from construction projects. We have been trialling the tool as part of environmental audits on the building of new flood defences schemes.”
Features of the new tools take into account:
- estimating the CO2 in the raw materials used
- direct emissions from personal travel by employees and transportation of raw materials
- emissions from site activities such as earthworks and excavation
- allows comparison of waste management options
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