Productivity and CO2 emission analysis for tower crane utilization on high-rise building projects

Cranes maintain a central role in construction projects, and tower cranes are one of the major equipment used in the construction of high-rise buildings. As the scale of construction projects increases, selecting a proper crane becomes more important for the successful completion of projects, especially in regards to taller buildings. To provide lift engineers with a planning tool, this paper presents a crane selection methodology for high-rise building construction projects based on crane productivity performance, carbon footprint impact and simulation process. The crane productivity analysis considers a tower crane with two jibs that operates using propellers mounted at the end of each jib to improve the performance of crane operations. This paper presents a methodology to quantify and assess the environmental footprint (CO2 emissions) associated with the tower crane swing operation. A case study is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of crane productivity and CO2 emission analysis for building construction projects. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.