Anchoring
In line with the city's ambitious climate strategy, there was a strong desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from construction sites in Oslo. At the start of the works in Olav Vs gate in September 2019, the emission-free construction site was therefore anchored both in the City Council's proposal for a new climate strategy* and Climate Budget for 2020**.

*) With the goal that the municipal construction sites will become emission-free by 2025.
**) A conversion of the construction industry to work more emissions-free is one of the measures that will help Oslo achieve its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

Documentation
The upgrade of Olav V's street/Klingenberggata is often referred to as the world's first emissions-free construction site. This means that excavators, wheel loaders and other equipment within the building fence would operate emission-free — in this case electrically. IN Urban Environment Agency report On experience with electrical construction equipment in Olav V street, it is revealed that the project has saved 52% of the emissions compared to if it had been carried out fossil-free, and 99% of the emissions compared to if it had been carried out on ordinary diesel.

Experiences
Furthermore, the report reveals that the project experienced some challenges at the start, including machines running out of power. This improved as it became a routine to put the machines on charge when not in use. Machine operators also had to learn to become more efficient in utilizing the available energy, that is, to plan work operations more carefully to avoid unnecessary use of energy. Furthermore, it is pointed out that The builder should be responsible for providing electricity.. This is because the contractors considered lack of electricity to be a significant time and cost driver, as well as a risk that would have become proportionately high to bear. Although the municipality of Oslo took this responsibility, and it turned out that access to electricity in the project area was very good, they nevertheless experienced that it took time to get electricity in place, and that construction power became available only the day after commencement. One lesson from the project is that close contact at the forefront with the online company is central to getting a realistic timeline and cost estimate.

In return, the experience with electric machines is that it is less noise and better air in the workplace, which gives improving occupational safety and the environment for employees. In addition, they find that reduced noise and smell make them feel less tired at the end of the day. Reduced noise has also been positive for the shops and offices in the street.

Some important prerequisites for getting started with emission-free building and construction sites in Norway
The timeline for planning emission-free building and construction sites started with the fact that in 2016, Care Building began to request fossil-free construction space and experienced that this went smoothly. On December 13, 2016 came”Emission-free construction site” on the agenda for the first time in a breakfast meeting organized by Norsk Eiendom, Grønn byggallianse, Bellona and Ommorgsbygd. Recordings are located here: Emission-free construction sites — Green Building Alliance (byggalliansen.no). Furthermore, a national conference was conducted on 15 May 2017 Emission-free construction sites — supplier conference (ankaffelser.no)

The work on the climate budget is also central to the planning of emissions-free construction sites. An important formal milestone was Oslo Municipality's procurement strategy from October 2017, which states that”Vehicles and construction machinery used in connection with the performance of works for the Municipality of Oslo shall, as a general rule, have zero emission technology”, although at that time there were no major electric construction machinery or vehicles on the market. Here you can read more about Requirements for suppliers — City of Oslo.

For more information about the project in Olav Vs gate, see: 2020-05-27 Cleancon

Emission-free working machines in Olav V's street (Source: Kunnskapsbyen Lillestrøm)

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