Clean Building

Cities like Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen are working to clean up one of the world's most high-emission industries.

Quiet, clean and green are not words you would typically use to describe a construction site. But the site at Olav Vs gate, one of the busiest streets in the heart of Norway's capital city, Oslo, was special. In a first of its kind in the world, all the machinery used on site – excavators, diggers and loaders – were electric.

Work began on the site in September 2019, converting what was once a hectic turning zone for the city's taxis into a new pedestrianised area. Locals may have initially raised eyebrows at what appeared to be just another inconvenient construction site, but soon it was clear there something very different about it. In fact, this was a pilot project for the first zero-emission urban construction site in the world.

"When I visited the zero-emission construction site I was extremely impressed," says Mark Preston Aragonès, a policy advisor at environmental non-profit Bellona. "I was looking at these big excavators that you generally associate with fumes and noise and general annoyances, but on this site, when the operator turned it on you couldn't tell the difference between when it was on or off. It was really impressive to see such big machines make such little noise."

Decarbonising the construction industry is something in which Oslo wants to lead the world. And it's with good reason

Using electric equipment in place of traditional diesel engines meant that everyone in the vicinity noticed a reduction in ambient noise and pollution. "We observed shops keeping their doors open towards the street, even when construction work was going on just outside on the pavement," says Philip Mortensen, a senior adviser at the City of Oslo's Climate Agency. "The workers also reported much better communication on site due to lower noise levels, and that as a consequence the working environment felt safer."  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...