NRMCA e-news

 

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.

The AASHTO Committee on Materials and Pavements (COMP) met during the week of August 4 in Madison, WI, with representatives from most state highway agencies in attendance. A new compilation of AASHTO full and provisional standards was published on July 31. Technical subcommittees 3a on cementitious materials, 3b on fresh concrete and 3c on hardened concrete are working on revisions to several standards. Many of these revisions are for consistency with current versions of ASTM standards, if there are equivalent versions.

 

 

The next Concrete Innovations session, titled Measuring Performance, will be held online Wednesday, August 21, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Eastern time. This session will explore how the concrete industry is measuring its progress to carbon neutrality while maintaining high in-place performance and constructability. The first presentation discusses low carbon solutions implemented at the San Francisco International Airport. The second addresses how admixtures can provide solutions for pumping, placing, consolidation and finishing challenges with innovative materials. The third will present a responsible sourcing certification that provides assurance that concrete production meets stringent environmental, social, management and economic sustainability criteria. The final presentation will discuss the concrete industry’s journey toward carbon neutrality and future plans to accelerate the drive to carbon neutrality.

Build With Strength recently participated in a two-day conference held by a Colorado-based laboratory centered on how to accelerate the transition to low carbon cement and concrete solutions. NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Patrick Matsche attended the event hosted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) in Golden. "The meeting focused on emerging technologies and how those solutions can be merged with current and future industry needs," said Matsche who was joined by his NRMCA colleague Tiffany Reed-Villareal, Todd Ohlheiser of the Colorado Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Portland Cement Association's Michelle Wilson and several NRMCA member companies. (Shown here are, from left to right, Ana Aday, PhD, NREL; Dorian Krause, PE, Pathways/CLF; Reed-Villarreal, Mikaela DeRousseau, Building Transparency/CLF; Hailey Goodale, EIT, Colorado DOT and Matsche.)