Columbus AIA Chapter Learns New Pathways to Lowering Carbon Impact of Concrete

More than 30 construction professionals attended an Ohio Concrete and NRMCA co-sponsored presentation held last week at the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Columbus Chapter Munch and Earn. Titled Pathways for Lowering Carbon Impact of Concrete, the program addressed various critical issues that designers should consider when evaluating how best to optimize the environmental impacts of ready mixed concrete materials used in their projects.

Donn Thompson, AIA, senior director, building innovations, for NRMCA’s Build With Strength program, outlined the value of consulting early with local ready mixed concrete producers on where a project will be located to better understand innovative approaches that may be available. The presentation stressed two steps for optimization: first, move to a performance-based specification to improve the flexibility needed for increasing the potential for more environmentally efficient mix designs and, second, clearly identify desired carbon targets and communicate the goals during pre-bid as well as pre-installation meetings over the course of construction.

Attendees were introduced to the NRMCA Concrete Carbon Calculator, the new automated approach for leveraging various baseline databases for determining mix design carbon benchmarks and how to use the tool to identify carbon reductions for optimized designs desired for the project.

For more information on the program, contact Lisa Weaver-Moon, Central/Southeast promotion director for Ohio Concrete at Lisa@ohioconcrete.org or Donn Thompson at dthompson@nrmca.org.