NRMCA Director, Sustainability, Codes and Standards, Tiffany Reed-Villareal moderated a panel on Embodied Carbon and Sustainable Materials at the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Inspire Conference in Arlington, VA, in mid-November. Panelists included her NRMCA colleague Brian Killingsworth, materials producers and structural engineers. Topics covered buy-clean legislation, recycling of materials, green procurement and low-carbon concrete. Killingsworth stressed the whole system approach to decision-making, considering multiple factors beyond Global Warming Potential (GWP) for making sustainable procurement decisions. Reed-Villareal emphasized the importance of considering a whole building lifecycle assessment when making choices on materials rather than just focusing solely at EPDs. The panel agreed there is a need for stakeholder education across the project lifecycle.
The ASCE Committee on Sustainability also met during the conference; Reed-Villareal (seen here at podium, moderating a conference session) participated as a voting committee member. The committee focused on the newly released ASCE 73-23 Standard Practice for Sustainable Infrastructure wich establishes a clear framework on sustainable infrastructure and closely mirrors Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Envision framework that requires designers to have a sustainable procurement plan that includes environmental management systems, product declarations and third-party sustainability programs.
NRMCA engages in the ASCE Committee on Sustainability as part of its strategy to advance sustainability and resilience in concrete production as part of its codes and standards advocacy initiatives. For more information about NRMCA Sustainability Codes and Standards advocacy, contact Tiffany Reed-Villarreal at treedvillarreal@nrmca.org.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association