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The California Air Resources Board is studying the emissions of two pieces of hybrid construction machinery – a Caterpillar bulldozer and Komatsu hydraulic excavator. The research will be conducted at the University of California, Riverside through a $2 million grant.

Half of the grant will push 20 to 30 hybrid construction vehicles onto active project sites, and the other $1 million will fund the testing of six vehicles on sites scattered throughout California. Researchers will then compare the performance of the hybrid vehicle to that of conventional diesel powered vehicles.

Manufacturers claim that the hybrid vehicles reduce fuel-use by 20 percent and cut emissions by 30 percent. But hybrids also carry a higher price tag – about 20 percent more than a comparable non-hybrid machine.

The two-year project will evaluate the emission reduction profiles of the vehicles as part of California’s larger effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Oregon is aiming to reduce emissions to 10 percent below 1990 levels by the same year.

The data from the project may contribute to an incentive program aiming to get more contractors to use the hybrid vehicles.

Researchers from the school’s Center for Environmental Research and Technology will monitor the behavior of the vehicles on a second-by-second basis during their use on the construction sites.