2015. 01. 08..
Our parent company launched the cLeanergie campaign in 2012 to promote the efficient use of energy over the complete range of Colas’ activities – from base material production through construction operations to office work.
The programme was introduced at the Hungarian subsidiaries in 2013. Our primary objective was to set up a reliable monitoring system in order to obtain a realistic picture of the Group’s energy consumption figures, trends and expenses. Naturally, a number of energetics programmes were already in use at the Hungarian Colas companies with the purpose of minimising energy consumption for the sake of both the environment and our budget. However, cLeanergie places these objectives into a global context, and defines a standard framework for the follow-up of the related data.
In 2014, we are carrying out significant investments aimed at improving our indicators. As a key element of these developments, we are installing further bitumen foaming units, which help us to reduce the production temperature of asphalt mixes, hence saving significant amounts of energy, resulting in lower stress on the environment and more favourable production costs. Furthermore, foamed bitumen has better heat retaining characteristics, facilitating the transport of asphalt to greater distances from the mixing plant, as well as the installation of the mix amidst colder weather conditions.
In addition to bitumen foaming, we are able to save energy by upgrading insulations and covering deposit areas, and we are also committed to reduce the idle time of vehicles and machinery to avoid leaving engines running unnecessarily. This goal is of special importance when it comes to the idle time of crushers and conveyor belts used for mining operations.
We are also taking energy consumption values into consideration when purchasing new pieces of equipment. Our recently acquired two pavers (introduced in greater detail in the previous issue of Mozaik Magazine) are equipped with state-of-the-art engines using significantly less energy.
