The construction industry consumes a massive amount of fuel. The majority of which is consumed byte construction equipment section. Considering this, Satin Sachdeva, Founder and Secretary General of CERA and MD-CEO of Equipment Planet, is concerned that the construction industry is one of the worst perpetrators of greenhouse gase missions.

Maintaining fuel efficiency in construction equipment

There are three major issues to consider. First, growing diesel prices are placing strain on the building industry; second, diesel use is dangerous to one’s health. The third source of concern is contaminated diesel on the market. We are currently witnessing the disastrous repercussions of climate change all over the planet. Nitin Gadara, India’s Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, is headstrong about reducing petrol and diesel use and progressively replacing them with biofuels and even electric variants of construction equipment. This will minimise hazardous gas emissions in the construction sector and the burden of high expenses on the construction industry.

Complying with emission control norms

The construction equipment industry recognised this and implemented Bharat Stage IV emission regulations to lower particulate matter (PM),nitrogen oxide (NOX), hydrocarbons(HC), and carbon monoxide emissions(CO). Several types of research are currently being conducted to manufacture electric construction equipment. The construction equipment business, especially the rental industry, should take the lead in educating the industry about lowering the construction industry’s carbon impact. The first step should be to balance the quantity of construction equipment in the business and have the appropriate fleet size.

 Advantages of equipment buyback to control emission

Equipment lease buyback is an advantageous option in reducing carbon emissions for everyone as imbalances the amount of equipment in the construction industry. In this case, a construction company will sell the ownership of the equipment to a rental company, which will then lease it back to the original company. It will give funds to the construction company, equipment to a rental company at a lower price, and business to the renting company. The mechanism prevented a rental company from purchasing new equipment, which otherwise would have created an issue of oversupply of equipment in the market. More equipment in the market means lower rental rates and more emissions. However, this mechanism has yet to be adopted in the Indian market.

Prospects for recycling and reusing

Overall, the essential things are to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and the equipment rental industry will have to incorporate these into their best practices. Therefore, the government in India should also promote the rental concept and rent to help curb carbon emissions.