The aggregate industry’s road to reducing GHG emissions
by: Warren Heeley
The Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association (OSSGA) and the aggregate industry in Ontario is committed to reducing its carbon footprint to meet the federal government’s targets for net zero emissions by 2050. The industry plays a critical role in Ontario’s circular economy and is already a driving force contributing to carbon neutrality in many ways.
An industry plan to reach net-zero aggregates will capture these long-term and continuing business practices and chart a path towards net-zero. However, some OSSGA members have already started reducing emissions from their operations. Both small and large-scale companies are working on steps towards a more sustainable future, including operator Ron Brent, from Brent Quarries.
Brent Quarries: moving forward sustainably
“Our company is already on the road to net zero,” says Ron Brent of Brent Quarries. “We have implemented a series of sustainable solutions for our operations and will continue on this road until we meet the targets for 2050.”
Based in Port Carling Ontario, this member company was started in 1990 by the three Brent brothers. One of the brothers was a contractor and had an ongoing need for small to medium volumes of aggregates that were difficult to obtain from the larger aggregate suppliers. Starting Brent Quarries solved this initial challenge and opened up a whole new family business.
The company has steadily grown from 80 to more than 3000 acres of land and five quarry sites. “Our hook with customers is that we are close to clients so the congestion on main roads in the province did not impact us and we could guarantee quick and on time delivery at a better price,” says Brent.
He went on to say that the net zero targets will be difficult for the industry but they are achievable. Approaches like planting trees to offset carbon emissions for the aggregate industry is not going to work. Instead his company has already started down the sustainability path in a number of ways.
Here are the steps that Brent Quarries has taken or will be taking in the near future.
Super insulated buildings – The buildings on Brent’s properties are wood construction and the inside is super insulated with spray-on foam insulation on the walls, ceiling and under the floor. This makes these buildings stronger, quieter and better insulated than steel construction which is harder to insulate and therefore, more difficult to maintain a good thermal barrier. The building’s energy use is very low and it creates a good environment for workers when it is cold or hot outside.
Buildings usable in winter – Property buildings have been designed to allow trucks to be kept inside during the winter which negates the need for truck warmup during colder weather. The buildings also create a better environment for workers when maintenance is needed on company trucks and other equipment in the winter months.
Building heating – On company sites, all buildings on the property are heated by a central boiler system that connects to each building by underground insulated pipes. The system has two boilers connected to the loop; one to provide heat for the system and one as a backup. The boilers operate on wood waste pellets which makes the system carbon neutral and includes a heat extraction feature in the system.
Electric property grid – All of the five sites have a 44,000 kilowatt line coming into the site that allows most operations (including crushing in the future) to be electrically run.
Solar farms – Three of the five sites have 500 kw solar farms that feed back into the property grid and provide 200 per cent of the ongoing energy needs for the property. The solar farms have been placed on land that is reclaimed, or land that is not presently being used.
Hybrid trucks – “We are proud to say that we have found a way to convert our dump truck fleet to electric hybrids,” said Brent. “A manufacturer in British Columbia makes available a kit that can be retrofitted into a dump truck to convert it to a diesel/electric hybrid. We are actively pursuing this for our fleet and expect to have the first hybrid truck on the road in 12 to 24 months. With transportation being the largest carbon emission challenge for our industry, we see this as a major breakthrough for emissions reduction”
Rail aggregate shipping – The fifth site opened by Brent was about 700 acres. Brent saw an opportunity in this site to create a better way to transport aggregate to markets around the province. The emissions from moving aggregate to distant markets by truck and the traffic gridlock created each day in urban areas makes transportation by rail a preferred option.
The new site has access to both CN and CP rail lines through the property. Using rail would reduce shipping costs, energy use and GHG emissions. With maintenance costs rising for dump trucks and a shortage of dump truck drivers, rail makes sense especially considering the difficulty being encountered in shipping aggregate by truck to large urban areas like the GTA. “Rail is a good sustainable option, so we are preparing for it,“ stated Brent.
Brent concluded by saying, “Does our company agree with the net zero targets? Yes, we do. Fossil fuels are becoming a precious commodity and should only be used when there is no other alternative like the situation currently with aircraft. Putting aircraft use aside, there are so many other energy options in our industry where fossil fuels can be replaced with alternative energy sources that are more sustainable. It’s our job to implement as many of these options as possible to reduce the carbon loading in our environment.”
OSSGA going forward
A plan to reach net zero by 2025 is currently being developed by the OSSGA Board and Environment Committee. It will entail establishing a series of key performance indicators (KPIs) to track progress within the industry and set goals for future targets. Most importantly, the plan will provide practical approaches and methods to make day to day aggregate processes sustainable, recognizing that it may not be a “one-size-fits-all” solution for members.
Steps like switching to grid supplied electricity, fleet/equipment updates, utilizing alternative fuel sources, recycling, and switching from loaders to conveyors will all contribute to reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the industry. However, transportation emissions are the largest output of GHGs in the aggregate industry and will obviously be a key target for reductions.
The transportation part of the plan will go hand in hand with the industry position on the need for “close to market” aggregate supply chains and the impact it will have on reducing emissions. To address this, the industry is also looking at alternative aggregate delivery systems and obstacles to transporting aggregate by rail in Ontario.
In the interim, OSSGA sees opportunities to raise awareness of the need to adapt processes to lower emissions, communicate best practices and new technologies to the membership, and develop industry environmental product declarations (EPDs). There is also a proposal to introduce a new OSSGA “net zero award” to help incentivize members to make their operations more sustainable and showcase examples of industry initiatives.
The road to net zero is going to be a challenge but it will also provide the aggregate industry with opportunities to audit their fleets, buildings, and processes and identify ways they can reduce emissions, improve waste recovery and even save money. For an industry that is so critical to so many aspects of people’s lifestyles whether it is the roads and bridges they drive on, the homes they live in or the buildings they work in, net-zero aggregates is a shared commitment to a more sustainable future.