CSA JOINS PCR, EPD PROGRAM OPERATOR CONSORTIUM

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Survey grasps carbon emissions concerns throughout real estate sector

From the Green Building Certification Inc., Washington, D.C. … An Amsterdam-based provider of property asset environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance data, GRESB released the results of its 2016 Real Estate, Developer and Debt assessments. New data show that real estate companies and funds are improving across all aspects of ESG performance, including reductions of 1.2 percent in energy consumption, 2 percent in greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 1 percent in water use. Real estate interests are also putting greater focus on occupant health and well-being.

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Big Data mining advances safe mixer truck operation

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San Diego-based Lytx Inc. is uniquely positioned to help concrete producers rethink fleet safety and risk prevention. The Big Data-minded firm has logged nearly two decades of video and voice captures, plus related information from 1,500 fleets running its DriveCam event recording and driver coaching platforms. Independent and large ready mixed producers among those fleets account for nearly 10,000 mixer trucks.

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Construction economist assesses slowing private work stability

An Associated Builders & Contractors analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows seasonally adjusted, annualized spending of $687 billion in August, 1.1 percent and 1.3 percent lower than prior month and August 2015 levels, respectively. Four of the five largest nonresidential subsectors—power, highway and street, commercial and manufacturing—combined to fall 2.2 percent on a monthly basis in August 2016.

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Mack, McNeilus commit Granite-mounted Bridgemaster to CIM Auction

Sources: CIM National Steering Committee, Murfreesboro, Tenn.; CP staff

Mack Trucks Inc. and McNeilus Cos. are sustaining a generous custom by donating the 2017 Concrete Industry Management Auction centerpiece: An 11-yd. M80 Bridgemaster transit mixer mounted on a Granite Axle Forward GU713 model. Truck bidding will cap the 11th annual auction, staged January 18 in the Las Vegas Convention Center amid the 2017 World of Concrete.

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Contractors welcome judge’s blocking of Obama overtime rule

Sources: Associated Builders and Contractors, Washington, D.C.; CP staff

A Department of Labor (DOL) Wage and Hour Division rule doubling the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) salary threshold for employees exempt from overtime pay—and automatically raising the bar on three-year intervals—will not take hold on a December 1 target, owing to a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas preliminary injunction order.

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LafargeHolcim targets insulation market with mineral foam product

PHOTO: LafargeHolcim Ltd.

Sources: LafargeHolcim Ltd., Zurich; CP staff

LafargeHolcim characterizes its new product, Airium, as a disruptive technology for the insulation market. Developed at the producer’s global research & development center near Lyon, France, the fire-resistant, mineral insulating foam improves buildings’ energy efficiency from floor to ceiling.

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LafargeHolcim, 3D printing specialist aim to commercialize structural elements

Through a partnership with French start-up XtreeE, a developer of large-scale 3D printing systems, LafargeHolcim Ltd. is eyeing commercialization of the first concrete structural element of its kind in Europe. Bringing the digital revolution to construction, the producer notes, 3D printing allows complex geometric structures to be created at a reasonable cost and with shorter production times compared to traditional fabrication. LafargeHolcim has initially pegged three 3D-printed concrete targets: high value-added architecture, affordable housing, and robotics-enabled, precast building element fabrication.

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Holcim spotlights $96 million Maryland plant capacity, environmental upgrades

Holcim (US) staged a ribbon-cutting ceremony late last month to cap a two-year Hagerstown, Md., cement plant modernization. The company underscored a clinker capacity increase upward of 200,000 tons annually, plus emissions controls abiding new Environmental Protection Agency National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) thresholds.

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Concrete end uses help propel coal ash recycling to record level

“We are pleased to report that 52 percent of coal combustion products were beneficially used in 2015—up from the previous year’s record of 48 percent. For the first time, we are using more of these valuable resources than we are throwing away,” reports American Coal Ash Association Executive Director Tom Adams, taking stock of the central metric in the group’s latest “Production and Use Survey.”

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