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Association & Industry News
To fill the current gap in low carbon cement and concrete guidance, the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and professionals across the cement-concrete-construction value chain have developed a new resource, Lower Carbon Concrete: Voluntary Guidelines for Developing a Protocol. The document provides a critical resource for design professionals, contractors, code officials, elected representatives, non-governmental organizations and the public to develop a lower carbon concrete protocol. A protocol developed with the approach outlined in the PCA voluntary guidelines is intended to lower the carbon of a concrete project without sacrificing long-term performance characteristics, including resilience. “Today’s climate - bringing the severest weather systems our planet has ever experienced - demands cement manufacturers stay the course in efforts to decarbonize the industry,” says Rick Bohan, PCA senior vice president of sustainability. “The best catalysts to reach net zero that are at hand today are alternative fuels and lower-carbon cements. These guidelines should serve as a go-to resource for professionals in the cement, concrete, and construction industries aiming to provide more resilient and sustainable materials.” For more information, contact PCA's Remi Braden at rbraden@cement.org or 202-235-4163.
Buildings
Build With Strength Senior Director, Building Innovations, Patrick Matsche has recently met with several leading architectural, engineering and contractor (AEC) firms that are determined to lower the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of their projects. Low carbon concrete, once an afterthought or one off, is now a priority for design firms. AEC firms KPFF Engineering, Mead & Hunt and Perkins+Will each hosted presentations discussing how to achieve low carbon concrete with currently available materials along with evolving processes, materials and technologies. These industry-leading firms looked to NRMCA to learn more about decarbonization strategies along with how the ready mixed industry is advancing sustainability, Matsche said. Matsche presented the Top 10 Ways to Reduce Concrete’s Carbon Footprint and encouraged the use of Build With Strength’s performance-based specification review, NRMCA’s Carbon Calculator tool and consulting services to create low carbon concrete specifications in lieu of unnecessarily prescriptive language that impact the GWP reduction targets and goals of their clients’ projects. NRMCA’s Build With Strength and PaveAhead platforms offer design teams a range of education, promotion and execution support. The meetings reinforced the concrete industry's proactive approach to sustainability and the essential role of collaboration in driving forward low carbon initiatives, ultimately transforming the built environment for a greener future while promoting concrete as the building material of choice. With the generous support of the ready mixed concrete industry, Build With Strength is recognized as a leading advocate, spearheading the effort to reduce and eliminate embodied carbon in buildings, roads and infrastructure. For more information, contact Patrick Matsche at pmatsche@nrmca.org.  Combining three local schools onto one donated site in partial floodway was the challenge presented to the Columbus, OH, office of Legat Architects by the local school district in New Boston, OH, reports NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Donn Thompson. Attendees at a presentation organized by Ohio Concrete learned the role concrete played in consolidating the buildings in the second poorest school district in Ohio into a single, safer, better performing facility (seen here). The district was the only one in southern Ohio with buildings all more than 50 years old, Thompson noted.
Save the date: the Membership Committee will host a virtual meeting on Tuesday, December 3, at 11 a.m. Eastern time. If you’re interested in participating or receiving more information, contact Amanda Muller at amuller@nrmca.org. 
SEO
Late last week, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas invalidated the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Overtime Pay Rule. The rule, which was finalized back in April, aimed to implement tiered increases and effective dates for both the minimum salary threshold and highly compensated employees (HCE). The minimum salary threshold, under which workers are eligible for overtime pay, increased to $43,888 on July 1, 2024, and then would have increased to $58,656 on January 1, 2025, representing more than a 60% increase over the pre-rule threshold. The HCE threshold, above which workers are not eligible for overtime pay, was raised to $132,964 on July 1, 2024, and then slated to increase to $151,164 on January 1, 2025; a 41% increase. The rule also provided for automatic updates every three years for the minimum salary and HCE thresholds. The court’s decision effectively places the minimum salary threshold back to $35,568 and the HCE threshold to $107,432. This development is not only welcomed, but is a huge win for the ready mixed concrete industry. NRMCA, its members, sister associations and coalition partners have remained vocally and ardently opposed to the overturned rule since its inception. While the DOL may appeal the court’s ruling, it’s very unlikely the next administration will pursue any such efforts. Click here to read the court’s opinion. For more information, contact Kevin Walgenbach at kwalgenbach@nrmca.org. 
NRMCA's Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional Driver of the Year Award, now in its 29th year and sponsored by the Truck Mixer Manufacturers Bureau (TMMB), acknowledges the significant contribution of ready mixed concrete truck drivers to the growth and success of individual companies and the ready mixed concrete industry. As a salute to these key members of the concrete production and delivery team, the award recognizes the driver’s career achievement, safety, professionalism, competence and customer service skills in a manner that will enhance the industry and public image of the career of Ready Mixed Concrete Delivery Professional. The 2025 award winner will be honored at NRMCA’s Annual Convention in Tucson, AZ, in March 2025. Applications must be e-mailed to DOY@nrmca.org by Saturday, November 30. Click here for more information and to review the entry form. The staff contact is Kevin Walgenbach. NRMCA’s Lionel Lemay presented a brief overview of the EPA grant awarded to NRMCA that includes rebates to concrete producers for producing EPDs. The grant will provide $5,000 to concrete producers that produce EPDs for the first time and $2,000 per plant for those producing EPDs at other plants. The presentation was part of the Utah Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s annual meeting hosted by Executive Director Brad Stevenson. The agenda included presentations on Utah’s regulatory landscape for construction and political landscape along with Utah’s long-term growth projections. For details on the NRMCA’s EPA Grant, visit www.nrmca.org/EPAGrant or register for the Concrete Innovations webinar on December 18 at www.concreteinnovations.com. 
NRMCA’s Lionel Lemay participated on a panel discussion on November 12 at Greenbuild in Philadelphia titled Environmental and Social Transparency of Building Product Supply Chains. Panelists explored the multi-faceted challenges of improving sustainability within supply chains, focusing on transparency, ethical sourcing and data-driven solutions. Moderated by sustainability expert Josh Jacobs, the session brought together leading industry professionals who are working at the forefront of sustainable supply chain practices. Over 150 people attended the event. In addition to Lemay, panelists included Nora Rizzo of Grace Farms Foundation and Olivia LaMarche of WAP Sustainability. Rizzo focused on social impacts of building materials, including fair labor practices while LaMarche represented the Cradle to Cradle certification system which focuses on product circularity. Lemay provided insight on measuring environmental impacts of concrete and upstream materials through EPDs. For more information, contact Lionel Lemay at llemay@nrmca.org. 
NRMCA Vice President, Building Innovations, Michael Wymant attended Greenbuild 2024 held earlier this month in Philadelphia in part to make sure ready mixed concrete was represented. He noted that this year, the USGBC partnered with Mass Timber for a co-branded convention, highlighting the wood industry's innovations. While this shift in focus presented a unique opportunity to explore new materials and technologies, it also underscored the importance of showcasing concrete's sustainability advantages, Wymant said. NRMCA's partnership with PCA allowed us to delve into low carbon cement options; Heidelberg Materials generously hosted tours of a slag cement plant in New Jersey. These initiatives exemplify the concrete industry's commitment to transparency and innovation. "Concrete is the material of choice for green building, resiliency and carbon reduction from a materials to performance perspective," Wymant said. "We need to communicate this despite the massive effort to pull the design community to structural wood systems. By educating the industry about concrete's superior performance and durability, we can counterbalance misleading narratives. Greenbuild remains a valuable platform for networking, learning and inspiring the next generation of sustainable building practices." For more information, contact Michael Wymant at mwymant@nrmca.org. 
Calendar
2025 February 3 - 7, Dallas March 4 - 7, Tucson, AZ October 10 - 14, Orlando, FL 
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