Concrete and climate

An “EPD” is a document showing the environmental impact of a product, component or service. An EPD can therfore give an overview of how a building projects affects the environment, and help decision makers decide between parts and solutions that are less environmental impactful. EPD is built upon international standards, and every document is verified by a neutral third party, in a similar way to how groceries are rated and judged by an independant party. In Norway, epd-norge verifies all buildingmaterials.

Take a look as this video about EPD.

In the drawing plans for Norway, it’s claimed to be impossible to deliver low-emission concrete class B and A so far north. However, since spring in 2020, we at Helgeland Betong have been delivering both class B and class A. We’ve pushed the boundaries, and we’ll keep pushing!

• We send sand from Altermarka
• Rocks are delivered from Helgeland Pukkverk in Austvika
• Silica is a by-product from Elkem Rana i Mo Industrial Park
• The cement is stored at the Norcem silo at Toraneskaia.

Collaborating with local suppliers and companies has been essential in our environmental goals. Another measure is the transition to electric power in production, rather than diesel. The entire power consumption is controlled with a full-fledged power management program. We time-adjust the use of energy sources, control water consumption and adjust the effect continuously. This has resulted in an annual saving in electricity consumption of over 10%. This is a massive amount of power saved, when our avarage power consumption is approx. 2 million kwh. We also have a heat pump that gathers heat from 4,000 meters of pipes in Ranelva. This also reduces our power consumption, as the pipe provides heat for our water and floors.

Helgeland Betong produces both Euro Block and concrete barrier from leftover concrete from other productions. At the same time, we have introduced a financial fee for residual concrete from buyers. This has made customers better at ordering the correct amounts of concrete, reducing waste. We sell less, but do not have to throw out any leftover product, which saves on both concrete and the environment.

Our mixing facility

In recent times, Helgeland Betong has taken a number of measures to satisfy customers’ requirements for concrete. With us, you get the concrete as you have described it, on all loads, at the right price and at the right time. Much of what makes concrete environmentally friendly, high quality and affordable, happens at the mixing facility.

At our mixing facility, we have increased the stability of the aggregate, improved the volume capacity in cold winter climates, streamlined electricity consumption and modified the production system. We store stone and sand under a roof, use new hot water tanks and a heat pump. We use more electric power than diesel, and have a new production and power management system.

Our mixing facility has a 2.25 m³ mixer that can produce 35 m³ of ordinary concrete per hour on average. We can produce 24/7, in all temperatures, all year round.

In other words: We always deliver!

Read RanaBlad’s article about our environmental accounts.

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Being a customer of Helgeland Betong should be easy. We understand that you need stability in delivery, efficiency, clear information about the product and production.

Helgeland Betong follows the digital development in the industry. With the 3D program “Impact”, several actors can follow the entire construction process continuously. We can model the entire building, collect data on prefabricated concrete elements and retrieve reports and drawings.

This allows you to make precise decisions, visualize your work, work efficiently and avoid misunderstandings. Here is a short video that explains how the program works:

Helgeland Betong wants to continue as a leader in the development of the industry. We have recently conducted exciting R&D research and are looking at opportunities to use the slag from Mo Industrial Park in our concrete. There is a lot of research left to be done, but we see great opportunities for both the concrete and the region in the times ahead.

Here is some relevant research:

• En wild idea can become environmentally friendly concrete
• Millions to recycling concrete
• The concrete is so strong because it’s so weak
• We need to use more locally sourced rocks when constructing road and infrastructure

We have developed special recipes for concrete that reduce CO2 values. These recipes have been tested in connection with the expansion of the National Library with great success. We are part of the team to be able to halve the CO2 accounts for NBR from the previous construction stage.

Helgeland Betong er focused on using modern tools to ensure we’re precise in all stages of the collaboration. Our goal is to make the experience simple, and information readily available.

Out transporter, Polartrans has recently invested in new concrete trucks with Euro 6 engines. A recent study shows that diesel engines that meet the Euro 6d-temp standard actually absorbs airborne dust from the air.

Using our new production program, the start of concrete production is planned before the concrete truck arrives at the mixing plant. At the same time, the system sends an automatic notification that the car is on its way. This results in less idling and streamlines the entire assignment.

Our capacity

• The storage stores 18000 tons of sand before winter.
• 6000 tons of sand are stores indoors.
• Single stock of 1800 tons.
• Chemical tanks of 10000 liters.
• 12500 liters of hot water.