Real-life Groundhogs

17 June 2021

Genquip Groundhog is taking positive steps to obtain useful ‘real life’ data that can illustrate achievable carbon savings to customers. 

“We’ve commissioned specialist consultants to assess the performance of the 6kVA and 9kVA generators in our welfare units under a range of conditions,” sales and marketing manager Pete Beach tells me. 

“This will measure the carbon emissions, levels of NOx (nitrogen oxide), diesel particulates and other important aspects with the generators running on low and high loadings, using diesel and HVO (hydrotreated vegetable oil, a clean diesel substitute). 

“The units will be used exactly as they would be on a work site and this will give us a baseline to show the difference in emissions between running a standard diesel cabin and our Eco Fusion hybrid models that can reduce engine running time by up to 80%.”

Pete points out that there are other factors to take into account which affect environmental performance, like how well a unit has been maintained, fuel quality and engine age, but the findings will allow meaningful comparisons to be made.

And of course, a crucial aspect of reducing emissions is in the hands of users, particularly in winter. When heaters are on, for example, it is important not to leave doors open, to switch heaters off when cabins are unoccupied and, generally, act with care to keep operations eco-friendly.