Every week could be a great week for concrete and sustainability, but last week held especially terrific news for the world’s most sustainable building material, reports NRMCA Senior National Resource Director Doug O'Neill. Finley Messick, executive director of the Kentucky Ready Mixed Concrete Association, shared the story of concrete being used on a high school that not only used durable and energy efficient ICF concrete walls, but also used concrete for its parking lot. This dramatically affected not only the heat island effect around the school property, but because of concrete’s reflectance has enhanced the outside lighting at night offering a more safe and secure area for students and the community. (Monache High School in Porterville, CA, also used concrete parking to help cool things - see  related E-NEWS story above.)

Both projects offer more proof that concrete is a solution to many environmental issues facing designers in today’s green conscience marketplace, O'Neill said. In an effort to help our industry better understand and communicate concrete’s sustainable attributes, NRMCA is hosting a Webinar entitled "Effectively Communicating Sustainability" this Friday, September 14, beginning at 11a.m. Eastern time.