Last week, Build With Strength Director, Building Innovations, Justin McCain presented An Elemental Approach to Decarbonizing Concrete at the Texas Lone Star Sustainability Forum in San Antonio. The forum, hosted by the Institute for Leadership in Capital Projects, had a focused theme this year of "Elemental" – Making an Impact Through the Built Environment. The event was attended by over 150 key decision makers, including project owners, architects, general contractors and engineers.
McCain’s presentation provided four key takeaways: 1) A review of NRMCA’s sustainability goals and initiatives working toward carbon neutrality; 2) A look at the materials and strategies that are available today to reduce concrete’s embodied carbon; 3) A glance to the future to explore innovations that are in the works to reduce emissions and 4) Addressing the sustainability-resilience relationship to quantify long term value.
In addition to NRMCA’s presentation, there were three other presentations, including, Mass Timber: An Environmental Structural Solution that culminated into a panel discussion on design and construction practices to promote sustainability and reduce the carbon footprint within the built environment. On the panel, McCain (seen here addressing attendees) emphasized the importance of going beyond EPD’s and evaluating materials based on the whole building life cycle assessment, from cradle to grave which paints an accurate picture of total carbon emissions to make informed design and construction decisions. He also addressed concrete’s lower operational energy costs from a tighter building envelope; case studies of concrete surviving natural disasters and strategies Texas projects have used to lower carbon footprint.
When discussing how to quantify resilience with the panel, McCain referenced ICC-500 and the 2024 Survey of Insurance Costs for Multifamily Buildings which in the Dallas/Fort Worth market results in concrete structures saving approximately 47% on Builder’s Risk Insurance and approximately 40% on commercial property insurance as compared to wood frame structures.
After the presentation, McCain addressed many questions on concrete sustainability and correcting several incorrect presumptions. He also introduced the available services offered by the Build With Strength team to the design-build community, including specification reviews, life cycle assessments and concrete design assistance. The forum provided the opportunity to engage with a multifaceted group of decision makers and highlight the work the ready mixed concrete industry has done and continues to do to achieve sustainability initiatives while resiliently improving the built environment.
For more information, contact Justin McCain at jmccain@nrmca.org.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association