A Practical Method for Assessing the Energy Consumption & CO2 Emissions of Mass Haulers

Mass hauling operations play central roles in construction projects. They typically use many haulers that consume large amounts of energy and emit significant quantities of CO2. However, practical methods for estimating the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of such operations during project planning are lacking. This paper presents a detailed model for estimating the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of mass haulers that integrates the mass hauling plan with a set of predictive equations. The mass hauling plan is generated using a planning program such as DynaRoad in conjunction with data on the productivity of selected haulers and the amount of material to be hauled during cutting, filling, borrowing, and disposal operations. This plan is then used as input for estimating the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of the selected hauling fleet. The proposed model will help planners to assess the energy and environmental performance of mass hauling plans, and to select hauler and fleet configurations that will minimize these quantities. The model was applied in a case study, demonstrating that it can reliably predict energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and hauler productivity as functions of the hauling distance for individual haulers and entire hauling fleets.