The Federation of Piling Specialists (FPS), is promoting the availability of an innovative Carbon Calculator, developed by the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) and the European Federation of Foundation Contractors (EFFC), and is a tool that allows the CO2 emissions of foundation and geotechnical works to be evaluated.

The Carbon Calculator, which can be accessed and downloaded at www.geotechnicalcarboncalculator.com uses verifiable, standardised data that allows the accurate benchmarking of competing project proposals, as well as allowing contractors and clients to evaluate different competing technical approaches on their environmental impact with respect to CO2 emissions. It will also allow real-time evaluation of a project’s emissions, throughout its development, to ensure it is performing as originally predicted.

Speaking about the Carbon Calculator, Anthony Fisher, Project Manager, Specialist Ground Treatment, Cementation Skanska, and member of the expert working group providing industry knowledge to the Carbon Calculator project on behalf of the FPS, said: “The environment and climate change affects us all and that includes piling and geotechnical contractors, as they form a significant part of the construction sector. Clients are increasingly demanding verifiable CO2 data, to evaluate the environmental impact of a proposed project and are using this data to actively differentiate competing methods and organisations”.

Fisher continued “The Carbon Calculator also makes foundation contractors aware of the environmental impact of their activities and will help them to continuously refine methods to make them as CO2 efficient as possible.”
The FPS, in particular, Martin Stanley, Tony Suckling and Anthony Fisher, together with many other organisations in the piling and foundations sector, collaborated with the DFI and EFFC on the Carbon Calculator, providing data and funding to help the realise the project.