Surprised by the carbon footprint of concrete finishing on a big Chicago job

I was on a big parking lot pour near O'Hare last month and got to talking with the safety guy about emissions. He showed me a report from the city saying concrete finishing equipment like our trowels and grinders can put out as much CO2 per hour as a small delivery truck. That really surprised me because I always thought it was just the trucks hauling the mix that were the problem. Turns out our gas-powered tools add up fast when you run them 8 hours a day on a site. Has anyone else looked into electric trowels or thought about switching to battery powered stuff to cut down on that?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_dixon6713d ago

I was on a 12-hour shift at a parking garage downtown last spring and we counted up our gas usage for all the trowels and saws, it came out to be like running a small fleet of vans nonstop. Honestly it made me rethink those battery powered options the rep was pushing at the last trade show, even if the upfront cost stings a bit. My buddy on a residential crew switched to cordless models last year and said the air quality difference alone was worth it, no more fumes in his face all day.

sean_park813d ago

Switched my crew to battery last summer and never looked back, air quality alone made it worth the upfront cost.