With one of the world’s largest real estate portfolios, controlling more than 505,000 buildings, the U.S. government faces a unique challenge in reducing carbon emissions from buildings. Executive orders and legislation have been targeting energy efficiency and green building in government-owned and leased buildings since the early 1990s. Over the last two decades, federal green building principles have evolved, setting more rigorous requirements. Today, with the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), federal buildings have more specific and ambitious green building requirements, including a goal of zero-net energy buildings by 2030.

To comply with requirements, federal agencies look to the presidentially-appointed Federal Environmental Executive (FEE) for direction. The current FEE, Joe Cascio, was appointed to the position on May 22, 2008. He chairs a steering committee whose members are among the President’s chief advisors on environmental issues. Together, their mission is “to promote sustainable environmental stewardship throughout the federal government.”

Much like LEED, the precise role of the FEE and the involvement of the government in sustainability has evolved over the years. We spoke with Mark Ginsberg, one of green building’s earliest government advocates, about the history of the government’s involvement in green building. Mark is a board member of the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

USGBC: You were there as USGBC and LEED were being formed. Can you tell us about how the government first came to be involved in green building and how things progressed from there?

Mark Ginsberg: In the early 1990s, there was a group of thoughtful folks who’d been assembling around the topic of green building. Many of those people were among the earliest leaders of USGBC. They envisioned a tool that could measure green building performance, and that system became LEED. The Department of Energy (DOE) put in the initial $500,000 in funding, then we realized it was bigger than one agency could and should undertake.

Around the same time that USGBC was forming, [Former President] Clinton said he wanted the White House to be an example for everyone else in terms of energy efficiency and environmental stewardship. So at the former President’s request, leaders like Rick Fedrizzi and Bill Browning joined AIA, DOE, and others for the “Greening of the White House” in March of 1993, right after Clinton’s inauguration.

Under the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), Clinton signed an executive order with that same kind of leadership. FEMP got the government in the position of “doing,” and since that time, each executive order signed by Clinton and by President [George W.] Bush has shown progressively better leadership by example. Still, each agency had to make its own decision on how to comply. But now EISA (the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) specifically requires energy efficiency, greener construction and renewable energy in federal building construction and operations.

USGBC: What changes do you think we’ll see as a result of the new federal requirements?

MG: We should see more of the typical benefits of greening: improved economic results, productivity and employee morale. The goal is that the finest green building practices become common in the public sector. Federal buildings will lead by example and the private sector will begin to follow suit as we have more examples of success. Those examples will continue to raise the bar, especially in learning and healing environments where better lighting and better air quality just make sense. We’re starting to see state and local schools go green in larger numbers, which should inform and encourage the private sector in those communities to do the same.

After all, these last 15 years have been one big snowball effect for green building. The concept has gone from a small group to a global movement. All along, I never imagined that LEED could be as effective, widespread, and respected as it’s become. In India, there’s a Green Building Council, and China has a Vice Minister of Construction who is committed to green construction and eco-cities. I can only see us continuing in this same spirit, improving technologies and strategies, raising the bar, and reaching more of the market.

USGBC: Do you foresee any major shifts in the coming years?

MG: My personal goal is for zero energy buildings and communities—that over the course of a year, buildings produce as much energy as they require. That’s within our grasp and should be cost-competitive by 2020, which is DOE’s research goal.

We saw lots of skepticism in the 1990s, but now there’s a micro energy or near-zero energy building in the Beijing Olympics. And the federal government has campuses that ought to be examples for the private sector, so I hope we continue to set good examples.

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Private Sector Provides Green Leases to Government
With government-owned buildings, there’s a sense of responsibility for addressing global climate change. But because government projects require Congressional approval and funding for a future budget cycle, there’s a lag-time in applying new technologies. Therefore, whenever possible, the General Services Administration (GSA), the federal government’s largest landlord, solicits green leases from the private sector. Starting this year, all build-to-suit leases over 10,000 square feet and in which the federal government will be the sole tenant, are required to achieve LEED Silver certification. In addition, federal agencies will be expressly prohibited from leasing in buildings that have not earned the Energy Star label.

Currently, 90 federal projects representing 10 million square feet are LEED certified, while 743 projects representing 149 million square feet are LEED registered. About 25% of the certified buildings are build-to-suit facilities leased from the private sector.

Don Horn is the director for sustainable design at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). He is also a non-voting USGBC Board member and serves on USGBC’s Government Committee. Don is an architect by trade, but has had an interest in environmental issues since his parents started an environmental awareness camp on their farm while he was growing up. Don’s GSA career began in historic preservation, which taught him that the greenest option was not to build at all. His current position coincided with an executive order to apply sustainable design in 1999.

USGBC: Tell us about GSA’s green leasing policy.

Don Horn: We’ve been using green lease clauses since 2000. These include requirements for construction waste management, environmentally preferable materials, low-emitting materials, T-8 lights and other energy efficiency and sustainable design items. Starting in 2008, all build-to-suit leases over 10,000 square feet and in which the federal government will be the sole tenant, are required to achieve LEED Silver. We’ve also added requirements such as commissioning and prohibiting the use of incandescent light bulbs.

Previously, green leases simply encouraged lessors to do the right thing according to the sustainable design principles laid out by Executive order. It was thought that the contract couldn’t require too much of a lessor, because it would limit competition. But we have to ask what the market can bear. Green lease provisions encourage the market to be greener, which is easy in big cities, but more challenging in smaller towns. We have to do the work to bring the developers on board. The market has changed so much; there was no real follow-up before, but now projects must show that they implemented green building principles with specific submittals. It still seems minimal, but we’re pushing the market. That goes especially for GSA’s Heartland region (Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri), which has been requiring LEED certification for a number of years and now boasts that 25% of their leased inventory is LEED registered or certified.

Government projects have many complicated needs. Meeting the LEED requirements of the green lease clauses on top of that is a rigorous process but these projects can help to push the market forward. In competition for the government contract, they want to make sure that they get the lease, so many times they go beyond the requirement, targeting Silver and Gold LEED certification—usually within market rates. For many private sector builders, their first green project might be one for the government to lease. Once they see the payoffs such as fewer occupant complaints on indoor air quality and thermal comfort, they start to pursue green building on their own.

The government is certainly seen as a leader in these cases, along with impressive private sector projects like Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia, and the Bank of America Tower in New York City.

USGBC: What is the idea behind green leasing?

DH: Evaluations have shown that leasing is frequently the best option for government buildings because fit-out to move-in can take place within a year or 18 months as opposed to four or six years for the government building process. That disparity is the result of a few things. Government-owned [non-leased] projects require separate Congressional approval and funding for site acquisition, design and construction. Government projects also have specific needs, which make them more complicated—they can be 300,000-400,000 square feet and require varying levels of security. When we lease a building from the private sector, it doesn’t require Congressional approval and we end up with higher LEED ratings because newer technologies can be applied when the developer can make the economics work.

USGBC: How does the process for procuring green leases work?

DH: Federal agencies bring GSA their requirements for new space in a specific location. If there is no federal building available, GSA’s regional office will see if they can meet it by leasing existing space or a build-to-suit space. Cities sometimes have their own idea of where the project will be located, often offering Brownfield sites, or new areas where the government development will spur other businesses to locate there. A “Solicitation for Offers” is distributed with the green lease requirements and project needs. The contract is then awarded to whoever meets the requirements at the best value to the government—factoring in green elements, cost, location, accessibility, floor plan, etc. The Environmental Protection Agency puts a stronger emphasis on the environment than other agencies and they’ll pay more for greener buildings. Some of our customers want to forget about the green aspect, but since we’re required to incorporate it, it’s now the standard way of doing business.

USGBC: So, where are we headed?

DH: EISA (the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007) has aggressive energy efficiency goals and has adopted the 2030 Challenge to make the built environment a central part of the solution to the global-warming crisis. Projects starting design in 2010 will have to have a 55% reduction in fossil fuel use. The reason it’s not sooner is because that’s the next cycle for submitting funding. Also in 2010, federal agencies will be expressly prohibited from leasing space in buildings that have not earned the Energy Star label. So we’re still two years off from seeing the results of these requirements.

The government is going to have to be more aggressive in getting the private sector to deliver greener buildings. Energy efficiency is going to be a major issue because of the requirements mentioned above. Right now, some architects are looking at the 2030 Challenge and thinking that carbon neutral in 2030 is an unrealistic goal. They use the excuse that they’re just doing what the owner of the building wants.

We’ll also start to be better predictors of energy use. We always want to know: did the building end up being energy- and water-efficient in the long run? Metrics will play a huge role in that, as will post-occupancy performance studies, such as the Green Building Performance study (PDF) that GSA just released. People will start to see green buildings as better than those that came before, and we’ll get what we ask for. If energy efficiency is the priority, that will be the result. Sometimes it may be attained at the cost of water efficiency, but project needs have to be balanced. And I think that we’re going to see more support for the integrated design process, where all parties work to achieve common goals, not just turn everything over to specialists to work in isolation.

USGBC: What resources can our members use to find out more about government opportunities or working on a government project?

DH: Fedbizopps.gov lists government contracting opportunities.
The Facilities Standards for the Public Buildings Service are at http://www.gsa.gov/p100.
To see GSA’s LEED certified buildings and learn more about the sustainable design program, visit gsa.gov/sustainabledesign.
The Whole Building Design Guide features guidance on government projects of all types.

USGBC: And of course, there’s always USGBC’s Government Resources page.

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USGBC’s Federal Summit Spotlights
Government Leadership
In May, USGBC hosted its annual Federal Summit, with over 200 participants from a variety of federal agencies. The summit focused on how the federal government is playing an increasingly visible leadership role in how the design, construction and operation of green buildings can address climate change and energy use. Updates were given on the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and President Bush’s Executive Order 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management” (January 24, 2007). Nine break-out sessions focused on the legislation, how to comply with requirements, updates to LEED, new technologies and techniques for verifying building performance.

To start the day, the acting director of the Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings at GSA, Kevin Kampschroer, opened his speech by announcing that there has been a 90% increase in green government buildings between the 2005 and 2007 Energy Policy Acts. He attributes that to two things: better occupant metrics so that more attention is being paid to interior air quality and occupant satisfaction, and green building projects no longer being seen as risky investments, creating better funding opportunities and lower interest rates.

Jim Connaughton, Chairman of the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, discussed how his office went about implementing Executive Order 13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management.” He realized that to make changes stick, they would need buy-in at all levels, so they institutionalized changes from the bottom up. He wanted to demonstrate the feasibility of the changes and give ownership of the process to those who would be implementing it. For example, in greening their purchasing process, rather than provide a list of acceptable products, he educated and empowered those responsible about how to evaluate and green the supply chain so that they would have the knowledge, plus experts to turn to if necessary.

Similarly, Dan Beard, Chief Administration Officer with the U.S. House of Representatives described how the Green the Capitol initiative began by reaching out to House employees, two-thirds of whom work in Member offices. Beard was enthusiastic about the pace of the changes, saying they’ll be carbon neutral ahead of their December 2008 goal.

Luncheon keynote Joe Van Belleghem, a partner in Three Point Properties, is building the Dockside Green project in Victoria, British Columbia. The 15-acre mixed-use harborfront development project is a LEED registered project and is targeting Platinum certification under the LEED for Neighborhood Development pilot program. Dockside Green’s holistic design envisions “a largely self-sufficient, sustainable community where waste from one area will provide fuel for another.”

The plant by Geocycle Singapore can process 360,000 tonnes of collected copper slag from local shipyards, which will be a substitute for sand in making ready-mixed concrete.

The Sungei Kadut facility will also function as a research and development centre for alternative and eco-friendly building materials.

It is a joint venture firm by cement maker Holcim Singapore and local recycling firm ecoWise, which have equal stakes.

By Jessica Cheam

As such, it was refreshing to hear Dr Helen Murphy, director, Environmental Services for VicRoads, present her paper – “The Carbon Footprint of Road Construction,” at the 2008 Roading New Zealand Conference held in Wellington recently.

Dr Murphy stressed that the main reason for the dissimilar carbon footprint estimates cited by the concrete and asphalt industries, stems from the different methods of calculation each adopts to present its case.

The asphalt industry has traditionally restricted its method of carbon footprint calculation to the embodied energy approach, while the concrete industry has taken a more comprehensive life cycle assessment approach.

In discussing potential future actions for greenhouse gas abatement, Dr Murphy examined vehicle and fuel technologies, travel behaviour and urban planning, as well as road design and construction. She emphasised that to gain an understanding of a roading project’s true carbon footprint, it is essential to perform a life cycle assessment.

Nicholas Stern, in his groundbreaking report – “The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review,” also chose to follow the life cycle assessment path, and it has become standard for many government departments here in New Zealand.

The term ‘life cycle’ refers to the notion that a fair, holistic assessment requires the consideration of raw material production, manufacture, distribution, use and disposal (or reuse/recycling), including all intervening transportation steps necessary or caused by the product’s existence. The sum of all those steps – or phases – is the life cycle of the product. The procedures of life cycle assessment are part of the ISO 14000 environmental management standards: in ISO 14040:2006 and 14044:2006.

As the appropriate means to investigate and value the environmental impacts of a product, caused or necessitated by its existence, a life cycle assessment fully accounts for the durability, low maintenance, and reduced fuel consumption benefits of concrete roads. This approach has recently been adopted by the Athena Institute, a non-profit organisation specialising in the science of life cycle assessment, who were commissioned by the Cement Association of Canada to produce a comprehensive report comparing the carbon footprint of concrete and asphalt roads.

The report – “A Life Cycle Perspective on Concrete and Asphalt Roadways: Embodied Primary Energy and Global Warming Potential,” is available at http://www.cement.ca/index.php/en/Life_Cycle_Perspective_.html

The report presents estimates of embodied primary energy usage and global warming potential over a 50-year life cycle for the construction and maintenance of a range of comparable rigid concrete and flexible asphalt pavements for highly trafficked roads.

In all cases, the embodied primary energy use is lower for the rigid concrete pavement. The report also demonstrates that if concrete shoulders and concrete restoration with no overlay are implemented as part of the maintenance and rehabilitation schedule, the primary embodied energy requirements will be 5.6 times higher for the asphalt option.

In order to measure direct global warming potential, the report also converts all greenhouse gas emission estimates (CO2, CH4 and N2O), using the well-accepted CO2 equivalence method developed by the International Panel on Climate Change. The results vary depending on pavement structure, but in some instances are up to 11 per cent higher for the asphalt design compared to the concrete alternative.

As illustrated by the Canadian report, if the true carbon footprint of a pavement type is to be calculated, then the inclusive methodology of life cycle assessment must be adopted. This requires that a service life of at least 50-years (not a mere 30-years) be the norm, and that all resources consumed in relation to maintenance and fuel consumption during the service life, be considered.

The ability to accurately gauge the superior long-term maintenance and user benefits of concrete roads through life cycle assessment methodology, must inevitably lead to their uptake for highly trafficked roads in New Zealand. This requirement is more pressing if the New Zealand Transport Agency is to contribute to an affordable, integrated, safe, responsive and sustainable transport system, and even more so if the Prime Minister’s vision for New Zealand becoming the world’s first carbon neutral country is to be realised.

By Patrick McGuire, Cement & Concrete Association of New Zealand (CCANZ)

(Florida) — Asphalt often wins out over concrete when transportation authorities select materials to build roads. But experts debate whether that might change, as funding for road construction goes down and the price of asphalt, which is petroleum-based, goes up.

Motorists won’t see much of a switch of asphalt roads being replaced with concrete, said Bob Burleson, president of Florida Transportation Builders Association.

But, “in some new construction, there might be an opportunity to look at concrete,” he said.

Asphalt is becoming scarce, as U.S. refiners overhaul their equipment to maximize output of highly profitable fuels, such as diesel and gasoline, using inexpensive — and hard-to- process — crude oil.

The dearth of asphalt compounds the challenges states, counties and cities already face in fixing bridges, highways, local streets and other critical infrastructure at a time when budgets are squeezed by falling income, sales tax revenues and real estate tax revenues. There also are higher costs for fuel, steel and other raw materials.

While it hasn’t experienced the shortages like other states and communities across the country, Florida has seen a spike in the price of liquid asphalt, Florida Department of Transportation spokesman Dick Kane said.

Liquid asphalt makes up only about 6 percent of the asphalt mixture, but adds 40 percent to the cost, he said.

The shift in refinery technology that led to the decline in asphalt production was spurred by increased oil prices earlier this year.

Oil refineries around the country are installing billion-dollar machines called “cokers” that are able to refine the chunkiest, low-grade and least expensive crude oil into highly profitable fuels, such as gasoline and diesel.

Asphalt is cheaper than concrete upfront, but concrete lasts longer before it needs repairs.

When deciding between the two materials, the Florida Department of Transportation compares the life of the road with the cost of using both materials, said Roger Schmitt, materials and research engineer for DOT District 5, which includes Brevard County.

That amount includes not just the initial construction costs and the price of maintaining it, but the costs to drivers in terms of their time spent delayed in construction traffic and the cost of running their cars.

An analysis for a section of Interstate 95 being widened from State Road 528 to Fiske Boulevard pointed to concrete as the more cost-effective option.

Generally, road project analyses have to show the project done with concrete will last three times longer than if it’s done with asphalt before the transportation agency picks concrete, Schmitt said.

But that could shift somewhat as asphalt prices rise.

“If asphalt increases more, concrete will become more and more viable,” he said.

Building roads with asphalt can end up costing more when upkeep costs are considered, said Jamshid Armaghani, director of concrete paving with the Florida Concrete & Products Association.

“The reason this cost is becoming a drain on the counties and cities is because asphalt more often needs repair and resurfacing,” he said.

Meanwhile, concrete pavement should last for 40 years before it needs maintenance, he said.

State Road A1A, which he said was built with concrete, has been in place for 60 to 70 years.

“It’s like buying a car that’s going to cost you a little bit more, but doesn’t require maintenance over the long time,” he said.

Asphalt advocates, however, dispute that.

Asphalt is easier to repair than concrete, said Margaret Cervarich, vice president for marketing and public affairs with the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

To rehab asphalt roads, crews only have to mill off the top inch or two, and replace it with a new overlay, Cervarich said. In some cases, that milled material can be reused at the site.

“Regardless of the initial cost, the life cycle of asphalt is always going to be lower,” she said.

BY SUSANNE CERVENKA

The application electronic technology goes back at least 40 years when the big controversy for equipment manufacturers was, “Do we use gauges or lights on the instrument panel?” On much of today’s equipment you can select what you want on the instrument cluster monitor and in the language of choice.

It was only a few years ago that GPS was first used to guide a dozer’s finishing touches on a project. Today a number of manufacturers have pre-wired their equipment so that machine controls and GPS systems can be added after the initial purchase.

“A term you will be hearing used more frequently is telemetrics. It’s not new. Telemetrics is a technology that involves the automatic measurement and transmission of data from remote sources. The process of measuring data at the source and transmitting them automatically is called telemetry. The two terms, telemetry and telemetrics, are often used interchangeably. In general, telemetrics works in the following way: Sensors at the source measure either electrical data (such as voltage or current) or physical data (such as temperature or pressure). These are converted to specific electrical voltages. A multiplexer combines the voltages, along with timing data, into a single data stream for transmission to the distant receiver. Upon reception, the data stream is separated into its original components and the data are displayed and processed according to user specifications.

“In 1912, the first telemetric application in Chicago used telephone lines to transmit operational data from a power plant to a central office. Because telemetry was originally used in projects like this, the first telemetry systems were called supervisory systems. In 1960, the interrogation-reply principle was developed, which allowed a more selective transmission of data upon request.

“Modern-day telemetrics frequently uses wireless communication. Telemetric applications include measuring and transmitting data from space flights, meteorological events, wildlife tracking, camera control robotics, and oceanography studies. Videoconferenceing and the Global Positioning System (GPS) are also considered to be telemetric technology.” (Source: Whatis.com)

Qualcomm has developed several telemetric products. The one most interesting to our industry is GlobalTRACS. GlobalTRACS is an equipment management system that automatically collects, wirelessly transmits and manages critical operational data — giving the contractor the ability to manage the equipment, not just track it.

The system tracks engine hours; GPS location; user-defined management and maintenance reports; multiple maintenance profiles and notifications; virtual fences and after-hours security alerts; driver directions and instructions; critical machine-health monitoring; easy back-office software integration; message delivery; and ruggedized construction.

Zonar Systems is another telemetric company but it specializes in over-the-road truck operations. Zonar Systems is in verified visual inspection technologies, helping companies capture, communicate and analyze information about the condition of their vehicles and other assets. Its products use radio frequency identification (RFID), wireless communication, web-based applications, and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to enhance fleet utilization, safety, compliance, and employee satisfaction.

Zonar’s High-Definition GPS system (HD-GPS) captures data every time in four dimensions, instead of the traditional three, and at a sample rate of one second. This can be integrated with other company systems.

HCSS has launched an integrated GPS feature that significantly expands the capabilities of its resource management software, The Dispatcher ™. Managers can now make better decisions based on accurate information from the field, helping them utilize equipment more efficiently, lower fuel costs, reduce cycle times, minimize theft, and identify underused rentals.

In addition to cycle-time analysis, the integrated GPS feature shows where equipment is currently located, where it has been, how fast it’s been going, and meter readings of how long the equipment has been running. The meter readings, coupled with The Dispatcher’s maintenance scheduling ability, help improve preventive maintenance on equipment. It can integrate with other company software.

Gomaco and Lieca — Stringless curb and gutter paving have become a reality. Gomaco and Lieca use a 3-D machine control system to simplify concrete jobsite logistics, reduce costs and improve quality. The system puts the owner’s 3-D designs directly on the machine and controls height and steer, slope and draft of the paver automatically.

It allows operators to be self-directing and eliminates the need for layout and staking personnel. Using this approach, pre-production planning is kept to a minimum.

PaveSmart, as the system is called, uses Leica’s TPS and GPS; is compatible with data from a wide range of design and CAD systems; and is also compatible with major GPS base station systems.

Some of the obvious advantages are that the system makes sense of digital data, directly from the designer’s survey equipment. A definite big plus is that it eliminates staking out and stringline setup errors since no stakes and stringlines are required.

Truck site access is a lot easier since drivers don’t have to watch for the stakes. It allows for jobs in narrower work corridors and eliminates waiting for the surveyor to check grade and make certain stakes have been moved. The system is ideal for highway work as it improves safety.

The system is designed for curb and gutter, barrier, and monolithic and sidewalk paving projects.

Curb and Gutter: parking lots, residential subdivisions and commercial developments.

PaveSmart 3D takes the owner’s CAD plans directly onto the job site. Your operator simply sets up the position sensors, picks the required task, enters any working offsets if needed, and you’re ready to go to work. The system even brings the machine automatically onto line and grade, ready to start paving — a faster and smarter way to work.

Barrier: restricted access, “live” highway possessions, urban and narrow-corridor or zero-clearance projects.

Project logistics are made much simpler when you can throw away the stringlines. Get your concrete trucks in and out faster, with no risk of damaging the stringlines and stopping production. Site safety and setup time for stringlines are also big concerns for projects surrounded by live traffic.

Monolithic and Sidewalk: Pave any shape in any configuration.

The system is as flexible and reconfigurable as your machine. Simply attach your new mold, set the new machine information into Leica PaveSmart 3D and you’re ready to go back to work.

Some of the PaveSmart’s features include improved accuracy. According to Leica PaveSmart 3D delivers grade and steer accuracy to millimeters with All-Trac Steer and All-Trac Grade.

It uses a combination of slope sensors, total station and/or GPS data to continuously calculate the position, height, orientation, cross-slope, and draft of the mold as it is working. It automatically regulates all points of the mold relative to the 3-D design, and allows offsets to be adjusted “on the fly” by the operator.

The Gomaco GT3200 single-track-steer, the Gomaco GT3600 with front steer, the GT3600 all-track-steer, and the Commander III are all designed and progammed to use the PaveSmart system.

Caterpillar’s Accugrade — Most new models of excavating/dozing machines are being offered with an AccuGrade Ready Option (ARO). A machine equipped with ARO has all of the wiring and mounting brackets installed where they are protected and will perform reliably. The ARO fully integrates the automated blade control with the machine. Part of that integration enables a lockout system that keeps the blade from moving when the operator isn’t at the controls.

As part of that integration, new models of machines that often are assigned finish grading tasks are designed to perform precisely when controlled by AccuGrade. For example, the M-Series motor graders have electro-hydraulic blade control that enables the system to react quickly and precisely to automated control inputs. Similarly, the new D6K tractor has electro-hydraulic blade controls and electronically controlled hydrostatic drive.

Other machines, too, are now available with AROs. Many of the Cat tractors now have AROs, and the new Cat excavators and most of the backhoe loaders also have AROs.

The second major thrust that Caterpillar is taking to implement GPS-based machine control and guidance is training. Cat has identified the distribution of GPS-based systems and training of customers as a bottleneck in applying this productivity-enhancing technology. As a result, Cat has put a great deal of effort into training dealer personnel to sell and support machine guidance systems. In North America, Cat has trained 1,500 salespeople, 300 product support people and 120-plus technology specialists. More than 200 hours of curriculum have been developed for web-based training and instructor-led training.

John Deere and QUALCOMM announced an alliance to create an equipment and machine monitoring and information delivery system that will be sold across North America by certified John Deere construction and forestry dealers.

JDLink automatically collects, transmits and manages information about where and how construction and forestry equipment is being used, as well as critical machine health data for superior equipment utilization, improved productivity and increased revenue. The system leverages QUALCOMM’s GlobalTRACS® equipment management system to provide customers with vital information about equipment location, machine health and service status. Additionally, it issues special alerts to notify customers if equipment moves outside pre-set boundaries.

Four levels of service will be offered with JDLink. The Standard level will provide owners with machine location status, machine service hours and location monitoring capabilities. The Advanced levels of service provide customers with the Standard level, plus dash indicators and fuel and equipment utilization information via engine load monitoring. The Ultimate level of service expands upon these offerings by adding current and stored monitoring of component pressures and temperatures, and fuel consumption, as well as transmission gear selection and full-featured diagnostic information retrieval. The Direct level enables customers to download machine operating history and diagnostics directly to a laptop. The Advanced, Ultimate and Direct levels of service will be available in 2007 on select models of John Deere construction and forestry equipment.

Topcon’s new 3-D steep slope add-on kit gives control on more job sites. The new 3-D steep slope add-on kits for motorgraders from Topcon Positioning Systems (TPS) gives contractors a wide-range sensor that allows 3-D use of these machines even in steep applications.

The slope sensor allows for precise measurement of up to 100-percent cross slope whenever needed by a Topcon System Five 2-D or 3-D application.

“We’ve found that this type of technology is needed as more and more contractors are using 3D-GPS+ motograders in applications with steeper slopes,” said Jason Killpack, Topcon senior product marketing manager. “Topcon created the new kits, which have a wider range slope sensor than the standard add-on kits, to provide superior accuracy and response on more job sites and applications.”

The new kit is compatible with all System Four, System Five and 9168 control boxes and features a temperature-compensated sensing element to enhance its use in any weather condition.
Interesting application

Grant Garrett with Garrett Excavation, Inc., of Hot Springs, Ark., bought a Topcon 3D-GPS+ system to put on a single bulldozer six years ago. Today the company has a full complement of 3-D and 2-D machine control systems, GPS rovers and base stations, total stations, and all types of laser instruments. He firmly believes that “Without GPS capabilities, we wouldn’t even be in business. Satellite technology provides us the competitive edge we need to continue to grow out business every year.”

Since last fall, a 15- to 20-man Garrett crew has been “attacking” a 122.5-acre plat in West Little Rock, moving massive amounts of dirt for a multipurpose development. The largest and hardest part of the job was a 50-acre section in the middle of the development dedicated to a 200,000-square-foot church.

Garrett’s crews relied on two CAT D-11 dozers and a D-9 to do the major earthmoving chores. “We slapped GPS+ on the D-9 and one of the D-11s and got to work.”

The initial church pad portion of the job was located on a former dairy farm. The hilly site presented its own special problems: Some areas required more than 30-foot cuts; others needed fills of more than 25 feet.

Garrett solved the problem of moving more than 170,000 yards of dirt in a short time span. The crew finished the work in less than 30 days. (The total job will entail moving more than 800,000 yards of dirt.) In the rough grading phase, crew members ran the three bulldozers side by side using the two Topcon-equipped GPS-controlled dozers to set the angle and depth of the cuts; the third dozer shadowed the movement of the other two with amazing results.

The result was a 57-foot-wide, 9-foot-high “wall of dirt” moving across the pad site. “I’ve been around dirt work all my life,” Garrett said, “and that even impressed me.”

Due to the contour of the site, the “shadow” dozer operator “eye-balled” the blade position in relationship to the position of the other blades of the GPS+-equipped dozers. When the machines were close to final grade, the two GPS+ dozers were used and “we were within 0.10-foot consistently,” Garrett said.

The church pad was finished three days early. “Without using GPS technology, the 30-day limit to finish the pad would have been impossible,” he said. “But using satellite positioning, ingenuity and the right people on the crew gave us a big productivity edge.”

Komatsu’s KOMTRAX provides not only location and hour meter updates, but additional invaluable information regarding machine health and productivity.

The system was designed to give owners the information they need to make strategic business decisions regarding machines and their operations.

KOMTRAX relays basic and critical performance data from a machine to the owners’ computer as well as to the local distributor. Owners receive detailed information in easy-to-read daily, monthly and annual reports about both basic and more advanced aspects of machine performance.

Lists and charts are great, but they don’t mean much unless owners can easily adapt that information to more efficiently use their equipment. Because one key way to lower costs is to reduce machine idle time, the KOMTRAX system has a feature that differentiates between idle hours and actual working hours.

KOMTRAX has been standard on most Tier 3-compliant Komatsu machines since early 2006 which have provided revealing analysis of machine idle time statistics for thousands of machines. According to those data, 20 percent of 20-ton class excavators idle more than 50 percent of their service meter hours, and the average idle time for this machine class is 36 percent of the time. But some operators idle far less. By using the data provided from the remote monitoring system, 20 percent of the operators have reduced idle time to fewer than 20 percent of operating hours.

Over a machine’s life, idle time typically accounts for nearly 20 percent of the machine’s total fuel burn. By eliminating 50 percent of non-productive idle time, fuel costs can be reduced by 10 percent. And, in today’s environment of rising fuel costs and increased concern about global warming and diesel engine emissions, this kind of reduction is significant.

Reducing idle time saves on fuel costs, but one of the main hidden costs of excessive idle time is reduced residual value of a machine. For example, if two machines actually work 600 hours per year doing identical work, but one idles 40 percent of the time and the other idles 20 percent of the time, these machines will accumulate service meter hours at a different rate. After five years the machine that idles 40 percent of the time will register 5,000 hours, while the one idling 20 percent will have less than 4,000 hours. All other things being equal, the machine with fewer hours is obviously worth more. In addition, the lower hour machine likely will have avoided two maintenance intervals, translating into less downtime for maintenance and more time to move dirt.

Reduced idle time translates into greater operator productivity. Measuring idle time, observing operator behavior, goal setting, and regular operator feedback are keys to reducing excessive idle time. Because KOMTRAX measures idle time, users with multiple machines doing similar work can compare machine-to-machine idle times for insight into how much improvement is possible. Observations of operator behavior and noting when machines are idled are critical pieces of information to set meaningful idle reduction goals. A monitoring system that provides monthly idle time reports can be an effective way to reinforce and reward good operator behavior as well as identify training opportunities for those operators who are slower to change excessive idle habits.

Glacier Computer, a designer, developer and supplier of rugged industrial PC-compatible devices, introduces its Magnum series of computers. Specifically designed for use in the construction industry, the Magnum can be mounted in a variety of work environments and applications. Engineered to withstand shock, vibration, dust, and moisture, the Magnum can be mounted into cranes, dump trucks, backhoes, graders, and onboard forklifts. Additionally, the Magnum can be mounted outside in a fixed location and used as a time clock at a temporary work location.

The Magnum is an Intel-based PC traditionally configured with either XP Pro or XP Embedded. An array of standard I/O allows for attaching numerous peripherals, including portable printers for producing work orders and employee ID card readers. Wide area network cards and GPS accessories provide easy data transfer from the work site and constant vehicle mapping and location data.

Unlike traditional laptop solutions, the Glacier Magnum is a sealed unit with no fans or vents. The unit can operate in the most intense environments, including extremes of temperature, shock, vibration, and moisture. Each unit has a touchscreen and high-bright display for ease of use with even a gloved hand. All units accept and easily run traditional Windows software applications. There are a variety of processor, DRAM, and both rotating and solid-state hard drive options.

Glacier’s Magnum series of computers are HALT tested, have passed thermal and reliability testing, and have an MTBF of nearly 40,000 hours. Built to Mil-Spec standards, these computers have an IP 64 environmental rating.

Trimble’s The Eagle Eye Obstacle Detection System alerts drivers to objects hidden in vehicle blind spots up to 20 feet away. The system features a series of sensors mounted around the truck and an alert module that provides visual and audible warnings of hidden obstacles.

The DriveSafe system automatically records speed on turns, starts and stops in relation to vehicle’s status. In addition, GPS positioning monitors average road speeds, and scores are assigned for each maneuver so driver behavior can be compared to the fleet average. As a result, early adopters such as Maricopa (see Trucking for Construction Special Section) aren’t just working to prevent accidents, they are taking steps to actually improve the quality of their driver’s decisions.

By Greg Sitek — Associated Construction Publications