POWER VERSUS SUSTAINABILITY Trenton M. Clark, PE, President, Virginia Asphalt Association ASSOCIATE MEMBER SPOTLIGHT R & B Crushing R & B Crushing is an up-and-coming mobile crushing company offering year-round onsite concrete, asphalt, and rock crushing services. Our OSHAtrained crew can handle all your crushing needs, from set-up to clean-up. At R & B Crushing, we are happy to do our part to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In 2023, R & B crushed 160,000 tons for reuse on our client’s projects! A woman-owned and operated company with a hands-on, customizable approach to every project, R & B is ready to provide both new and existing clients with quality service. We can crush it for you in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. R & B looks forward to crushing it with you! Visit our website and contact our team to discuss your next project. WEBSITE: rbcrushing.com CONTACT: rachel@rbcrushing.com Over the last five years, the word “sustainability” has become common among industry conversations. With the global objectives to fight climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other gases entering the atmosphere, there is an impetus to change how business is done on an individual, company, and country-wide level. Within the manufacturing and construction industries, a product or project’s life cycle assessment (LCA) is defined and calculated before a final decision is made. According to the Federal Highway Administration, LCA is “a comprehensive approach that examines material and energy inputs and outputs over the life cycle of the product or process. LCA quantifies a range of potential environmental impacts, such as ozone depletion, acidification, eutrophication, and smog formation.” So, while much attention has been given to electric vehicles and cleaner products, what about the equipment used to construct future paving projects? The Virginia Asphalt Association asked several of its equipment members this question: what are you doing to lower the LCA of paving projects? This is what we heard. First, all the companies we spoke to have internally-set sustainability goals and are working hard to meet them. For example, Caterpillar has a goal that 100% of its new products are more sustainable than the previous generation. This may mean lower emissions, more fuel efficiency, and completing tasks faster. Vogele has innovated a new power system for use on its pavers called EcoPlus Vogele. Like Cat, Vogele’s new paver generation has lower CO2 emissions than previous generations by 25% to 50%. It can accomplish this by reducing fuel consumption while still optimizing power. Some companies rely on diesel as a primary fuel source; though, in examples like Leeboy, they are working toward implementing electric pavers. Leveraging the innovations in power from the automobile industry, LeeBoy has a paver on the market that can be recharged at EV industry standard fast chargers. Along with the substantial reduction in paver emissions, crews note the reduction in noise, heat, and engine emissions common in most diesel pavers. Delivering equipment with the necessary power to perform is the biggest challenge facing manufacturers. For years, electric screed heaters and electrically heated bars and tanks on tack trucks have been available, but providing power for transfer vehicles, milling machines, pavers, and rollers has kept engineers busy. With LeeBoy’s introduction of the electric paver and other manufacturers improving fuel efficiencies, what will be the next big breakthrough? Are hydrogen-powered engines or some other fuel the next big thing? What an exciting time to see how the industry works to reduce carbon emissions and improve the LCA of new pavements! VAASPHALT.ORG 31
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