A groundbreaking partnership to enhance the measurement and reduction of carbon emissions in the road infrastructure sector has formed.
ORIS Materials Intelligence (OMI) has teamed up with Ramboll to develop more advanced carbon lifecycle analysis for the sector. The partnership aims to integrate Ramboll’s FuelSave solution into OMI’s digital assessment model, which addresses the entire lifecycle of road projects, from construction to traffic emissions.
Ramboll will adopt ORIS across its global teams to provide a unified platform for sustainability assessment in the road infrastructure sector as part of the agreement. It will gradually replace its internal tool, ZeroInfra.
FuelSave is a web-based software, invented and developed by Ramboll RST (Road Survey Technology), that is said to enables a unique sustainability assessment of early road planning and detailed design work.
The application predicts energy use and CO2 emissions by combining road design with road conditions and forecasts on traffic, as well as inputs on vehicle fuel types and energy sources.
FuelSave calculates the predicted traffic emissions, fuel consumption, and fuel costs for multiple design options in a life cycle perspective and enables simulations for different traffic forecasts and compares all alternatives to inform more sustainable design decisions.
OMI is a web-based software enabling sustainable road infrastructure with a solution which provides early assessment in the design and construction phase to reduce costs, carbon emissions, and natural resource usage while improving road safety and climate resilience.
By incorporating FuelSave technology into the ORIS platform, this partnership is expected to provide the road infrastructure sector with a holistic and user-friendly platform for assessing, mitigating, and reducing carbon emissions associated with the entire lifecycle of road construction and operations (from embodied material carbon emissions to transportation and traffic-related emissions).
Stefan Wallmann, managing director of Ramboll Transport, said: “I am delighted to announce our strategic partnership with ORIS Materials Intelligence, marking a significant step in advancing the further development of FuelSave and enhancing our efforts to deliver low carbon infrastructure.
“This collaboration is set to bring innovative benefits to a wider audience worldwide. Our commitment lies in delivering sustainable solutions that effectively reduce costs, lower carbon emissions, and conserve natural resources.
“Simultaneously, we aim to elevate road safety and fortify the resilience of infrastructure. The ORIS platform plays an instrumental role by providing vital data that is essential for the success of these projects.”
Nicolas Miravalls, co-founder and chief executive of ORIS Materials Intelligence, added: “We are honoured to collaborate with Ramboll and Autodesk in this partnership, representing a significant step toward reducing carbon emissions in the road sector.
“By integrating FuelSave into the ORIS platform, we are improving our capacity to provide comprehensive, data-driven solutions that tackle carbon emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of road projects. This partnership underscores our commitment to developing more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive transportation infrastructure.”
With FuelSave, ORIS’s carbon models will expand to include:
- Improvement of transportation analysis of the construction phase by including slope and speed components (Life Cycle Assessment Requirements A2 & A4 in EN 15804)
- Assessment of the emissions related to traffic management and congestion during the construction phase (Life Cycle Assessment Requirements A5 in EN 15804)
- Calculation of the emissions for the use phase, factoring the specific road geometry with the integration of traffic evolution, its effect on carbon emissions, and the opportunity to identify mitigation solutions
Empowered solution
This integration is said to empower engineers and designers with a solution to predict traffic impacts and reduce carbon emissions, paving the way for more sustainable road infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Autodesk, Inc is supporting the new partnership and continued developments of the existing ORIS plugin to Autodesk Civil 3D. Integrating the FuelSave technology into the OMI platform will expand the suite of sustainability solutions accessible to Autodesk users’ existing design environment.
Civil engineers will be able to assess holistic environmental impacts associated with road and highway projects, enabling them to analyse and compare the carbon emissions associated with their designs. The combined technologies, available through the ORIS integration in Civil 3D, will enable engineers to conduct early-stage carbon assessments, simulate traffic impacts, and explore mitigation strategies for more sustainably built roads.
Marta Bouchard, director, sustainability solutions at Autodesk, said: “Roads and highways are a significant part of the global built environment and there is tremendous opportunity to reduce the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our work with ORIS and Ramboll brings together technologies that address two parts of the emissions equation – embodied and operational carbon – enabling engineers to optimize road designs while mitigating lifecycle carbon emissions.
“A lower carbon future depends on these collaborations which connect data, unlock new workflows, and empower our customers to achieve more sustainable outcomes.”
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