Challenges for the construction sector and how can mobile batteries help?

Challenges

Climate change

While Climate Change is a global all-encompassing issue, the specific goals to limit the environmental impact of construction and infrastructure are given by the government.

The “Klimaatakkoord” or National Climate Agreement was set up by the Dutch government in 2019 and is in line with the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to equal or less than 2 degrees Celsius and if possible, to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The main goal of this agreement is to reduce the produced greenhouse gases in the Netherlands by 49% until 2030 (Klimaatakkoord, 2019)[1]. While the agreement includes many aspects, such as energy generation, mobility and agriculture, the focus for this post is on construction and infrastructure, which are best included in the industry part of the agreement. Here, the agreement talks about a fully circular and emission-free future in 2050 with sustainable electricity from wind, solar, biogas, hydrogen, and geothermal energy. The goal is to reduce the CO2 emissions in the industrial sectors as quickly as possible by investing in innovation and subsidies to achieve the position of the most CO2 efficient industry in Europe (Klimaatakkoord, 2022)[2].

While the Climate Agreement covers the broad topic of Climate Change and how to combat it, the Schone Lucht Akkoord (SLA, EN: Clean Air Agreement) from the year 2020 specifically focuses on clean air, air quality and as a result on the quality of life. This agreement has been signed by representatives of the state, provinces, and municipalities, so they all work together to achieve the goal of an at least 50% healthier environment in 2030 (compared to 2016) (Schone Lucht Akkoord, 2022)[3]. One of the topics addressed in this agreement is the mobile equipment, which is used for instance on construction sites. According to the research done prior to writing the agreement, this type of equipment contributes to 10% of the negative health impacts from air emissions (in this case NO2 and particulate matter) (Schone Lucht Akkoord, 2022)[4]. They aim to reduce these specific emissions by 75% in 2030 compared to 2016 and further strive for zero-emission equipment and construction sites.

Additionally, to these two agreements, the Stikstof Aanpak (EN: Nitrogen Approach) was developed and came into force on the 1^st of July 2021. This approach aims to reduce the amount of nitrogen released into nature and more specifically Natura 200 areas. The nitrogen reduction is based on the critical value for nitrogen (NL: kritische depositiewaarde, KDW), which indicates the limit above which there is a high risk of the nature being significantly affected by the nitrogen. The goals are therefore to reduce the number of nature areas, where the critical value is exceeded by at least 40% until 2025, 50% until 2030 and 74% in 2035 (Aanpak Stikstof, 2022)[5].

Furthermore, specific rules for the construction sector are included in this approach (Aanpak Stikstof, 2022)[6]:

• The “Routekaart Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwen” (EN: Clean and Emission-Free Construction Roadmap): The goals of this approach can only be achieved by the cooperation of the government, commercial parties, and knowledge institutions. Therefore, a roadmap to focus the efforts and have concrete projects is being developed by the aforementioned parties together.
• The “Subsidieregeling Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwmaterieel” (EN: Clean and Emission-Free Building Materials Subsidy Scheme): Since new and innovative technologies are expensive, the government has decided to encourage this process by providing subsidies for emission-free equipment, innovation on construction sites and other nitrogen-reducing measures, such as emission-free motors.
• Resources for low-emission and circular procurement by government departments: To achieve emission-free construction sites in the future, these projects must be stimulated. Different government organisations are executing this task to focus on these specific projects.
• A knowledge and innovation programme Schoon en Emissieloos Bouwen (EN: Clean and Emission-free Construction): Here, the commercial construction parties, the government and other knowledge parties work together on finding solutions for the energy transition in the construction sector.
• Pilot projects to research how to make mobile equipment more sustainable: These pilots are mostly executed as part of infrastructure, housing and utility construction and include emission-free equipment to research how much the nitrogen emissions can be reduced with this measure.

These three measurements provide the framework for the construction and infrastructure sector to work in and develop further. However, this framework demands drastic and quick changes, which challenge the established order of working.