May/June 2023 - 7

GIANFRANCO DI CICCO
PRESIDENT
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Sustainability Simplified for DFI
What is sustainability for
DFI? Why is it so difficult
to understand the ongoing
push for something that
should clearly be part of
our everyday life and regular
practice in our work?
The basic premise of being sustainable,
in my opinion, should be simply to
decide to do things correctly the first
time, and ensure we are using the
correct tools, sustainable whenever
possible.
I may be wrong, but I believe that I
have been practicing sustainability
throughout my entire career because I
was always trying my best to improve
safety and quality. Whatever project in
which I was involved was planned and
performed in a very safe way with very
high-quality standards - even in the
middle of the desert while I was in Iraq
in the early '80s when we were doing
our best to save, at the same time,
water... and toilet paper.
I am sure the majority of DFI members
have done the same.
We all agree that we should try to
reduce carbon emissions and opt for
the use of electric equipment, but can
anyone explain to us in a few simple
sentences how all the electricity
required can be produced so that all
equipment can run on electricity? And
where will we find all the rare minerals
needed to manufacture the batteries for
all the electric equipment and vehicles?
If I have missed the document with the
explanation, can anyone provide it?
Maybe we really need to accelerate the
formation of a DFI Moon & Mars Space
Committee because if we cannot find all
the needed rare minerals on our earth,
without destroying our precious
environment as is happening now, we
should probably accelerate the development
of geofoundation technologies
to be applied up there!
Apologies for the diversion. Let's go
back to DFI here on earth. As you well
know, DFI has had a Sustainability
Committee since October 2008, and with
the European Federation of Foundation
Contractors (EFFC) developed the
EFFC/DFI Carbon Calculator. However,
other DFI committees have for many
years been a very important part of DFI's
efforts to promote sustainability.
* The Subsurface Characterization for
Deep Foundations and the Geotechnical
Characterization for Foundations
(DFI India) committees are
promoting the value of proper and
adequate site investigation. They
increase the awareness of the
importance of having, in advance of
design and construction, complete
and accurate information together
with better geotechnical data to
optimize the design and reduce, if
not eliminate, risks of differing site
conditions.
* The Testing and Evaluation Committee
is educating the industry on
the importance of the laboratory
test ing that fol lows the si te
investigation and is demonstrating
how increasing the requirement for
site testing in advance of production
optimizes the foundations' design
and construction procedures. Hence,
a lot of savings can be achieved with
minor additional investment in
testing. See the webinar series on ITS
(Increased Testing Saves) Money.
* The Information Management
Systems and BIM/Digitalisation (DFI
Europe) committees are devoted to
improving digitalization of data such
as analytics, business intelligence
and geospatial tools including geographic
information systems and
building information modeling.
Ensuring data are connected in real
time results in achieving better
quality control as well as the
possibility to control and correct in
real time any work done during the
execution and the requirement to
repeat any nonconforming work.
This is how, despite differing beliefs,
DFI is ensuring technical sustainability,
while committing to safety and
enhancing testing and quality control.
Each member, whether corporate or
individual, may decide how to support
the rest of the sometimes-controversial
sustainability discussion.
As per my previous message, we
always need your input. DFI is your
organization!
Contact Gianfranco Di Cicco at gianfranco.dicicco@bauerfoundations.com
DEEP FOUNDATIONS * MAY/JUNE 2023 * 7
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May/June 2023

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