Europe, U.S. Face Similar Challenges in Building Sector

While we have looked to Europe as leaders in environmental movement, it’s good to see the Europeans also face the same challenges we do. Recently, the European Commission released a communication on resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector (read here) that promotes the need for more efficient use of resources consumed by new and renovated commercial, residential and public buildings, and to reduce their overall environmental impacts throughout the full life cycle.

The "Communication From The Commission To The European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic And Social Committee And The Committee Of The Regions On Resource Efficiency Opportunities In The Building Sector" acknowledges the need to "improve the efficient use of materials to avoid negative impacts associated with virgin material," but "the entire life-cycle of a building must be considered if the environmental impacts are to be tackled effectively." The communication also recognizes the "lack of reliable, comparable and affordable data, methods and tools on which the operators in the supply chain can analyze and benchmark the environmental performance of different solutions."

Here in the U.S. we face similar challenges as we embark on this age of transparency and reporting driven by the release of the US Green Building Council’s LEEDv4 and Architecture 2030 Challenge for Products. Green building is a growth sector expected to dominate the construction market by 50% by 2020. The concrete industry can play a significant role in this sector was we begin to create Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), Responsible Sourcing Schemes (RSS) and Health Product Declarations (HPDs). NRMCA has a number of sustainability initiatives that will assist producer members to meet the requirements in the various standards.