MOMA Solar have recently been working with a large Australian construction company to improve efficiency, costs and further their steps towards becoming a company running on renewable energy.
Having just completed our second project with them, the team there updated us with how their milestones were tracking.
See the full testimonial below:
The project purchased 3x lights for use in the emergency bays whilst the existing streetlighting has been taken down during the construction period. The lights allow users of the freeway to utilise these emergency bays during night periods – allowing safe exit during emergency events.
Benefits for the Project include:
- With the river so close to our work site, special consideration for the potential of spills/malfunction was given when choosing lighting. Conventional lighting towers require fuel and have a potential for spills overnight when they are not manned. The solar lights provide an option with no fuel use and control this risk – thus from an environmental perspective were a better option.
- Noise: the solar lights are quiet in comparison to a lighting tower which runs off a generator/small engine, thus reduces impacts to surrounding residents and fauna inhabiting the foreshore vegetation.
- Brightness: the solar lights were not as bright as lighting towers, which reduced issues with surrounding residents.
- Emissions: There will be a significant reduction in the overall carbon generation when using solar lights in comparison to lighting towers for this interim period.
Costs:
- The engineering team worked out a cost for three months for three solar lights of $7,000 in comparison to $15,000 for three lighting towers. Once you add in fuel and maintenance the cost goes up further for the operation of lighting towers.
- The solar light option did not require site personnel to be present to man the machines as per lighting towers.
Sustainability Requirement for Freeway Project:
The Project is required to simultaneously consider social, environmental and economic matters to ensure the design and construction of the freeway is consistent with sustainability principles. The use of renewable energy such as solar lights during the construction period forms part of this process. The Alliance has set a minimum requirement of 50 (‘Excellent’ rating) for the project in both phases. In achieving the rating, the Alliance must also achieve the following minimum Infrastructure Sustainability credit as stipulated in the contract.
| Ene-1 | Energy and carbon monitoring and reduction | Level 1 and 5% reduction target |
The use of the solar lights could be used for the following ISCA credit: Ene-2 Use of Renewable Energy. The aim for this credit is to reward investigation of, and use of, renewable energy. The project believes that potentially the use of these lights could be put forward for consideration under this credit.
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