Carbon Calculator Debuts at Sustainability Seminar DFI Europe sponsored a workshop on “Sustainability in Foundations,” in April in The Hague, The Netherlands. A highlight was the introduction of the Carbon Calculator, developed by DFI Europe and the EFFC (European Federation of Foundation Contractors). Over 50 representatives of foundation contractors, engineering firms, universities and public authorities attended. The seminar chair was William van Niekerk, director corporate sociability responsibility of Royal BAM Group (Koninklijke BAM Groep NV), holding company of BAM Group of companies, who presented the opening speech: “A Foundation for the Future.” Niekirk set forth an outline for social responsibility of the foundation industry, emphasizing the European regulations that call for houses to be energy-neutral by 2020. Professor Michiel Haas (Technical University Delft, chair Materials and Sustainability, Director NIBE), spoke about “Building and Environment, the right combination?” He presented three solutions: Urban Mining – recycling of used materials, a building is just a depot of raw materials; Circular Economy – leasing building materials during the building’s life; and Growth of Materials/zero-materials – retrieving building components. Tony Suckling, technical director of Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering (U.K.) presented the philosophy of a contractor in the U.K. on sustainability. He outlined the possible savings due to sustainability from the re-use of old foundations, more efficient design to prevent wasting materials and a trend toward soil improvement instead of cast in-situ piling. Examples were the use of hollow piles and lightweight road foundations made from old rubber tyres. The client viewpoint was offered by Johan van Dalen, advisor with ProRail (Dutch State Railway Authorities). He outlined the policy of ProRail to stimulate sustainability in contracts. In the CO -2 performance ladder, contractors are scaled based on their policy and performance in measuring and reducing CO emissions. A 2 high rating on the CO -performance ladder 2 gives an up to 10% price advantage for contractors, when tendering for ProRail. Other Dutch Authorities also use this system. The focus for contractors is in use of sustainable materials and low energy, where engineers should focus on CO 2 innovations in design. The state of the art of sustainability of foundation systems was presented by Ed Smienk, senior consultant with ABT Building Engineers. He provided practical examples for sustainable use of foun- dations: use of sustainable cement, hollow piles, (concrete) piles made of recycled materials and pile-raft foundation. The use of many small piles may be economical due to reduction of floor thickness. He outlined the idea of energy piles, a relatively new concept in The Netherlands. In an energy pile, temperature exchange with the soil is achieved by means of tubes in the pile transporting water. Carbon Calculator Inge van Baardwijk, business developer at BAM Infraconsult, introduced the Carbon Calculator on behalf of the EFFC-DFI Carbon Calculator Working Group. This unique achievement of a sector-specific carbon accounting methodology makes it possible to compare the sustainability (read: CO performance) of foundation 2 techniques and projects within Europe and worldwide. Work on the calculator, which started in March 2012, was led by a working group consisting of DFI and EFFC members and delegates from various European foundation/contractor parties, and chaired by Marine Lasne, sustainability director at Soletanche Freyssinet and chair of DFI’s Sustainability Committee. In coop- eration with a French consulting firm, Carbone 4, which is leading in carbon strategy, phase 1 of the tool was developed in less than a year. Phase 1 prepared the tool for 7 foundation techniques and is at www.geotechnicalcarboncalculator.com. A second phase of the tool, with 13 additional techniques, all identified by DFI, will be launched later in 2013. To calculate a carbon footprint one needs specific CO emission factors. An important 2 principle of the tool is to provide a generic database for use across Europe, based on the best international sources (IPCC, EcoInvent). But the tool will also contain sets of national values where relevant and available which can be selected by the user. To illustrate how easy it is to use the tool, Marcel Kouwenhoven, QHSE coordinator at Vroom Funderingstechnieken, pre- sented some practical examples. He created an example project and compared different foundation techniques. In this example, the cheapest foundation technique was also the one with low CO 2 emissions. Using the new tool, he compared precast concrete piles, driven cast in-situ (vibro) piles, auger-type bored piles and displacement bored piles. Needless to say the outcome can vary depending on the specific project. The tool showed clearly that the cement type used in the concrete has a major influence on the total CO emissions. Some steel sheet piling 2 examples were also discussed. Cooperating organizations of the Sustain- ability Seminar included the Royal Institu- tion of Engineers KIvI–NiRIA, and the Dutch Federation of Foundation Contractors, NVAF. AUTHORS Adriaan van Seters, Fugro Netherlands, and Inge van Baardwijk, BAM Infraconsult DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2013 • 33
