Construction site machinery is responsible for a significant amount of air, noise, and climate pollution yet remains unregulated. The development of the EU Clean Vehicles Directive offers an opportunity to address regulation, writes Mark Preston, Policy Assistant at the environmental NGO Bellona, on Euroactiv.
Mark Preston: “Machinery at construction sites are the largest source of emissions and represent the third largest share of a building’s lifetime greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, they are responsible for 18% of Oslo’s (N) total emissions, and more greenhouse gas emissions than Germany’s domestic rail and air travel combined. In London, these machines account for approximately 7.5% of the city’s NOx emissions, 8% of large particle matter PM10, and 14.5% of fine particle matter PM2.5. As any city dweller will attest, the noise of construction site machinery contributes greatly to the nuisance of an already loud environment”.
EU Clean Vehicles Directive
The purpose of widening the scope of the EU Clean Vehicles Directive is to create a market for a technology which already exists. Several machinery manufacturers have developed electric models which boast higher efficiency rates, lower operating costs, low noise pollution, and zero tail-pipe emissions of air and climate pollutants.
NGO Bellona recently ran an event at the European Parliament inviting several industry representatives, along with representatives from the European Commission and local authorities.The market has yet to embrace the next-generation of equipment. Read the full report by Bellona here.
Including construction machinery within the EU Clean Vehicles Directive presents synergies with the recently adopted Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which enforces the pre-tubing of charging points in newly constructed and renovated buildings as a minimum prerequisite.
Electric machinery at the construction site could encourage contractors to go above and beyond in the installation of private charging points in buildings, providing a much-needed boost to the adoption of electric vehicles in the EU.