Emissions threat to London contractors

The proposed retrofitting of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) to construction equipment working in Greater London by 2006 could compromise the machines' CE certification and performance, according to the Construction Equipment Association (CEA).
In a damming response to
the proposal from the Partnership in Reducing Emissions from Construction Equipment (PRECIS), the CEA said many
filters would have to be fitted externally and could cause the machines to breach EU noise and visibility regulations.
"This whole issue, while having merit in aiming to improve air quality, raises significant issues for building contractors, plant hirers and users," said Tim Faithfull, director of member services at the CEA, which represents plant manufacturers.
Faithfull said OEMs are not currently in position to factory fit DPFs (required by Stage IIIb legislation in 2010) and they could not recommend any modification that would cause a machine to be in breach of EU certification.
According to the CEA, DPFs are duty-cycle specific and each machine and application would require a unique solution resulting in high retrofit costs - probably more than £1,000 and possibly more than £2,000. Tailoring the DPF to a job also inhibits moving machines from one site to another and poses problems for plant hire companies.
The CEA is calling for an exemption for plant in cases where the retrofitting of a DPF would cost more than 10% of the machine price as this would make these items unviable.
It also wants exemption for machines below 75kW or 10t operating weight.
Unless run on ultra-low sulphur diesel (another proposal from PRECIS), the DPF would rapidly clog. The availability of ultra low-sulphur red diesel would lead to a considerable reduction in some emissions without the need for a DPF, the CEA said.
"Those in the industry should not think that this is just a London initiative - it will almost certainly be adopted by other cities," Faithfull said.