Energy-efficiency benchmark for reducing carbon emissions

Leighton Contractors and e3k have teamed up to create the Leighton Energy Efficiency Equations (Le3) for benchmarking the energy efficiency of material transportation.

The idea for the research and development came from Leighton Contractors, operator of one of the largest fleet of bulk materials transport vehicles (haul trucks) in Australia and New Zealand.

Steve McDonald, General Manager Plant for Leighton Contractors, said the company needed a reliable measurement system that could be applied equally across all operations and within the operations, where the nature of the work undertaken varied frequently.

“When we looked for such a system, it was clear that no one had developed anything that could take into account the variation that we frequently encounter, particularly in our contract mining operations,” McDonald said.

The R&D work undertaken produced several mathematical equations which took into account many inputs that were logged and available from the vehicles and the mining operations, as well as key physical parameters. Using these equations, live data from vehicles can be readily manipulated by computer to provide a comparison with best-practice benchmark efficiency parameters for a particular fleet.

The output information is able to be analysed to give regular guidance on the status of ever-changing energy efficiency of fleets, vehicle types, haul routes, individual vehicles and drivers.

Leighton Contractors  is currently implementing an Le3 monitoring system at one of its mining sites.