The relationship between heavy equipment cost efficiency and cleaner production in construction

Abstract

Attitudes in the construction industry towards emissions and cleaner production are mixed. Many in the industry do not measure their emissions, or show awareness or progress towards minimizing emissions, but rather focus on more traditional matters of time, cost and production. Some writers suggest cost, or an industry perception of extra cost, as a main barrier to implementing more sustainable practices. There has been a slow shift to a sustainability mindset, but commonly this shift is only embarked upon if there are parallel cost savings. A realistic business view is that sustainability in the construction industry will only be achieved if parallel cost reductions occur. Within this debate, the paper puts forward the proposition and shows that, for a defined type of construction operation, performing at minimum unit cost (cost per production) also leads to minimizing unit emissions (emissions per production). The implication of this is that, within an existing operation, least unit emissions can be achieved without an increase in unit cost; alternatively, traditionally efficient ways of undertaking construction have the least environmental impact. Conversely, not operating at minimum unit cost leads to unnecessary emissions. The paper demonstrates this on an array of construction practices, and opines that similar results will hold for related construction operations.