Abstract
The objective of this paper is to examine the relationships between construction equipment costs, fuel use, and air pollutant emissions to make more informed decisions in construction planning and achieve more sustainable construction activity. This paper presents an estimating approach that combines both construction and environmental data to assess the relationships between equipment costs, fuel use, and emissions. To characterize these relationships, a case study is presented for a dozer performing a bulk excavation activity. Sensitivity analyses based on soil type, dozing distance, and engine horsepower rating are presented. Results indicate that there is little difference in the equipment total cost, fuel use, and emissions for sand and gravel, sandy clay and loam, and common earth but clay has the highest values of the four soil types. Other relationships indicate that total cost, fuel use, and emissions increase as dozing distance increases but equipment total cost decreases as engine horsepower increases. One of the key findings is that there is an inverted u-curve relationship between engine horsepower and fuel use and emissions. The main conclusion is that the selection of higher horsepower equipment may lead to lower total equipment costs, fuel use, and emissions for earthwork activities.
Recommended Citation
Lewis, Phil; Shan, Yongwei; Hajji, Apif; and Hazzard, Elizabeth
(2015)
"Characterizing Equipment Cost, Fuel Use, and Emissions for Earthwork Activities,"
The Professional Constructor: Vol. 39:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://open.clemson.edu/aic-journal/vol39/iss1/5
