Transition to a fossil- and emission-free construction industry

Abstract

The object for this thesis is to see how Nettpartner, which is Norway’s largest electrical infrastructure contractor, can contribute to the green change in the construction industry. To go green has become a big topic in the Norwegian construction industry during the last few years, and in 2017 a report concluded that the Norwegian construction industry could reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases with close to 99 % if the industry planned better before they started building. The method used in this research is the constructive research. The aim of constructive research is to solve practical problems while producing an academically appreciated theoretical contribution. We start by looking at which technology that is available for the construction industry to go green to today. Here we saw that we have excavators and trucks running on batteries already and more to come soon. We also look at some of the barriers that must be crossed, before the construction industry can go green. One of these barriers is the capacity of the power grid, but this can be solved with the use of batteries. We then do some calculation for a couple of business opportunities that Nettpartner can use to contribute to the green shift in the construction industry. Our main findings show that there isn’t so much Nettpartner can do right away, but they must be aware of the need that will be here tomorrow and try their best, in cooperation with other companies and instances, to install an electrical infrastructure that can handle the need of tomorrow.