The construction industry is the third highest producer of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from industrialized countries, placing it under the spotlight in terms of sustainable technologies. At the same time, the role of trenchless construction projects continues to grow as cities rehabilitate ageing pipelines underground and expand their networks into new areas.
According to research from Journal of Green Building with the City of Edmonton and the Consortium for Engineered Trenchless Technologies (CETT) at the University of Alberta to compare actual GHG emissions for hand tunneling versus those of the trenchless pilot tube method (PTM).
Learn more about GHG by reading Understanding Construction Emissions: What’s Causing Greenhouse Gases & How We Can Improve.
What Are Greenhouse Gases?
The most widely used measure of GHG is the emission rate of carbon dioxide (CO2). The Journal of Green Building quote the Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network Report when they state that statistics show a global increase of CO2 in the atmosphere from 280 ppm to over 380 ppm over the last 60 years.
A rise in GHG is widely accepted as a significant cause of climate change. As a result of these figures and their consequences, individuals, companies and nations have developed initiatives to curb and reverse the trend.
However, CO2 is not the only GHG to be worried about. Particulate matter, hydrocarbon content, SO2, and NOx are all also important measure to bear in mind.
The most well-known international initiative to combat climate change is the Paris Accord, agreed in 2015. The agreement was developed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It sets the ambitious goal of keeping global temperature rise to less than 2º C above pre-industrial levels.
How Construction Contributes to GHG emissions
The Journal of Green Building describe their research methodology base on calculating GHG emissions in the construction industry on the basis of fuel consumption. This includes both construction machinery itself like bulldozers, excavators etc. as well as transportation trucks to get equipment and fuel to and from the site.
When calculating emissions from construction machinery, it is important to take into account the machine loading.
Fuel consumption and therefore emissions vary significantly when idling compared to using equipment at full load. Various studies and models have been developed to assist researchers to make accurate estimates of GHG emissions.
What's the Difference Between Hand tunneling and PTM?
While the purposes of hand tunneling and PTM are both the same in terms of installing an underground pipe, the methods used are quite different.
As the name implies, hand tunneling is manual labor intensive. First a vertical shaft is excavated to the required depth. Then, the tunnel is excavated. Soil is removed from the tunnel to the access shaft from which it is hoisted to the surface and removed. During the process the tunnel is supported and lined.
Mechanical excavation uses a tunnel boring machine (TBM). This is typically necessary for longer tunnel excavations. (Read How Tunnel Boring Machines Work.)
PTM is a combination method using microtunneling