Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
A first-of-its-kind consortium in the green-building industry convened 15 manufacturers and industry representatives in a roundtable discussion on the needs for enhancing product transparency and stewardship through effective product category rules (PCR), life cycle assessment reports (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPD), and Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports.
Read MoreThe International Code Council, ASHRAE, American Institute of Architects, Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES) and U.S. Green Building Council will collaborate on development of Standard 189.1, International Green Construction Code and the LEED green building program.
Read MoreA new U.S. Green Building Council and American Chemistry Council initiative aims to ensure the use of sustainable and environmentally protective products in buildings by applying technical and science-based approaches to USGBC’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating program.
Read MoreThe International Organization for Standardization’s new 14046, “Environmental management—Water footprint—Principles, requirements and guidelines” standard will allow a wide range of private and pubic entities the means to measure the environmental impact of their water use and pollution potential. It joins the ISO 14000 Environmental management series, whose “Type III Environmental Product Declarations” standard governs documents concrete interests are issuing as green building rating systems evolve.
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The first of two phases in the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association’s development of a standard Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)—aimed at assisting ready mixed producers on projects where customers target certification under the new LEED v4 green building rating system—has produced a survey report and list of participating companies and plants.
Read MoreAssociated Builders & Contractors’ 19,300-sq.-ft. national headquarters in Washington, D.C., is one of the first buildings to be certified under Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors, a program available to owners or individual commercial space tenants from the Green Building Initiative (GBI), Portland, Ore.
Read MoreSources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; National Precast Concrete Association, Carmel, Ind.; CP staff
To support development of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) catering to contracts for green building certification candidate projects—especially those targeting the recently released LEED v4— precasters and allied groups are finalizing a North American Precast Concrete Category Rule (PCR) through program operator ASTM International.
Read MoreSources: Graniterock, Watsonville, Calif.; CP staff
Graniterock’s Construction Calculators Version 4.2 app enables architects and contractors to gauge carbon dioxide emissions reduction when using supplementary cementitious materials to offset portland cement in concrete mix designs. The just-released update builds on one of the industry’s first mobile device-geared software products, launched in 2011, for estimating a project’s ready mixed and aggregate requirements.
Read MoreA frequent critic of methods behind the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, the American High-Performance Buildings Coalition (AHPBC) affirms support of the International Codes Council transparent process for developing the 2015 International Green Construction Code (IgCC).
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Cemex USA has published an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for 12 mix designs produced at its Pier 92 plant in San Francisco, a market laden with green-building practitioners and clients who are stepping up supplier transparency requirements with the tightening of project rating systems, chief among them the EPD-incentivizing LEED v4.
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