Establishing abatement alternatives in construction

Construction operations consume energy and due to the associated emission of greenhouse gases (GHG), leave negative environmental impacts. Many construction contractors look on emission mitigation efforts as being counter to profit and of secondary priority. However, due to increased social pressure, contractors are being obliged to reduce energy consumption and mitigate emissions. This paper focuses on emissions during construction. The aim of this research is to provide construction contractors with an understanding of the effectiveness and cost of available abatement alternatives and aid them in making profitable decisions while minimizing project emissions. Based on data from a road construction project, required material quantities, available suppliers, delivery vehicles and the NONROAD model, the cost and emissions of each possible procurement alternative are compared. The abatement curves are used to present the results. It is shown that by simply considering emissions in decision making, changing material supplier can help mitigate emissions. It demonstrates that for contractors who intend to make environmental friendly decisions, there exist affordable alternatives.