Reducing the carbon footprint of roads, from the production plant to the user

A LOW-CARBON ASPHALT PLANT

Eurovia’s (VINCI Construction) asphalt mixing plant at Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes in western France was completely modernised and equipped with its own solar power plant in 2020. It uses the cutting-edge techniques to reduce its carbon footprint, including covering material inventories to reduce humidity, using more efficient modern worksite machinery, switching to natural gas instead of heavy fuel oil, installing electrically heated asphalt binder tanks, and using more asphalt aggregate (up to 50% instead of 30% in the old plant).

As a result, it has cut its asphalt production CO₂ emissions by 40%.

POWER ROAD^®, A ROAD THAT CAPTURES, STORES AND REDISTRIBUTES ENERGY
Power Road^® works like a heat exchanger. Throughout the year, and especially in the summer, the road captures the sun’s thermal energy so it may be either transferred to nearby buildings and infrastructure (e.g. to heat swimming pools or provide hot water for office buildings), or stored in geothermal wells before being reused in the winter to heat buildings or remove snow and ice from roads, thus avoiding the need for vast quantities of salt.

INDUCTIVE ROADS TO RECHARGE ELECTRIC VEHICLES
In Sweden and Germany, Eurovia (VINCI Construction) and VINCI Energies are developing the world’s first inductive charging roads. The idea is to enable electric vehicles to recharge through a sensor located under the chassis that communicates with an electric coil embedded in the road surface.
VINCI Autoroutes and Eurovia are also trialling “Charge as you Drive” technology on the A10 motorway to test wireless induction or rail charging in real-world conditions.
Induction enables all vehicles to recharge while moving or stationary, and could therefore significantly boost the growth of electric-powered travel while making electric vehicles suitable for long-distance travel.

OPTIMISING USERS’ ROUTES
AddHelix by Axians (VINCI Energies) is a digital solution that helps logistics companies find the greenest and shortest routes for their deliveries, enabling them to cut their emissions by 20% on average. For example, thanks to Addhelix, an Austrian client saved 12 million kilometres in one year, avoiding 6,000 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

-40 %
LESS CO₂ EMISSIONS FROM ASPHALT PRODUCTION AT THE SAINTE-SUZANNE-ET-CHAMMES PLANT.

IN THE SUMMER, POWER ROAD® CAPTURES THE SUN’S ENERGY TO HEAT NEARBY INFRASTRUCTURE.

<< Acting for the climate