Transportation to the construction site

The panels will be delivered exactly when needed, according to the Just in Time (JIT) method. The JIT transportation of produced panels from the factory to the construction sites will play an essential role in the INDU-ZERO context. To guarantee the most cost-efficient and environmentally sympathetic route, INDU-ZERO has two calculation tools. The first tool processes the detailed route-planning for the delivery trucks. Since trucks have high carbon emissions, the utilisation rate needs to be as high as possible. Where practical, deliveries to two or more sites should be planned to be carried out in one journey. An example of a calculation can be seen below. The tool shows "yes" for combining the first construction site in Duisburg and the second construction site in Düsseldorf, meaning these sites can be served within one transportation process. By combining these construction sites about €3,000 in transportation costs could be saved. Nearly 800 km in driving distance and 728 kg CO2 emissions will be saved by this action.

The second tool offers a comparison of truck transport against combined transport by barge and truck. Transport by truck has the advantage of flexibility, but CO2 emissions and costs are high whilst the transport capacities are low. Meanwhile, transport by barge has a much lower CO2 emission and higher capacity but is limited to the inland waterways. Therefore, the combination of transport by truck and barge must be considered, benefiting from the strengths both methods have to offer. The tool compares the costs of both methods and will show how much emissions will be saved by the combined transport.

For example, the tool shows us that the best transport method from a potential INDU-ZERO factory in Deventer (NL) to a construction site in Groningen (NL) would be a combination of both barge and truck, as 29% CO2 emissions would be saved compared to transport by truck alone. In addition, it would cost 90% less than truck transport for 40 panels from the INDU-ZERO factory to Groningen.

These two tools can also be combined allowing the planning and calculation of every journey, by evaluating the most efficient economic and ecologic method. This will make sure that deliveries will emit the least CO2 possible, which contributes to the overall project-mission of renovating houses in the most sustainable way. In addition, the tools can be applied to INDU-ZERO factories in other countries. Within the project, this was also done for the countries Sweden, Norway and Finland, for example.