The CONEXPO-CON/AGG exhibition in Las Vegas was the venue for the latest gathering of the Construction Climate Challenge.
Tackling issues such as calculating the whole life impact of building materials, and the potential for cutting emissions in construction equipment leading speakers discussed the climate challenges of reducing Carbon in Infrastructure Construction from their own diverse perspectives. The Construction Climate Challenge is an initiative hosted by Volvo Construction Equipment, whose aim is to promote environmental awareness, enhance collaboration and share best practices throughout the construction industry value chain.
Intelligent, Electric & Connected
Dave Ross, vice president of advanced engineering at Volvo Construction Equipment discussed the challenges facing equipment manufacturers in their efforts to achieve economic, environmental, and social sustainability. “While other industries have made huge advances in efficiency over the years, the process of construction hasn’t really changed, and is, if anything less efficient today, with major projects commonly taking longer and costing more. This actually offer us a lot of opportunities to drive down the part of emissions that 
derive from construction equipment.”
Mr. Ross described how the adoption of new technology is leading to a new breed of intelligent, electric and connected machines. “Volvo Construction Equipment’s HX2 prototype autonomous, battery-electric, load carrier – which is on display here at Conexpo, is one element of an electric site research project that we predict will deliver up to a 95 per cent reduction in carbon emissions and up to a 25 per cent reduction in total cost of ownership,” he said. “While only a concept today, the HX2 is already six times more efficient than the latest generation haulers that use internal combustion engines.”
The presentation concluded with Mr. Ross describing how Volvo Construction Equipment has set itself the target of increasing efficiency by 10 times, thanks to the adoption of intelligent, electric and connected technology. “Not only that,” ended Mr. Ross, “We are also working towards objectives whereby our equipment delivers zero downtime, zero accidents and zero emissions.”
For further information on the Volvo Group click here www.volvogroup.com
