Should he prevail next month, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney can be held to his five-point Plan for a Stronger Middle Class. One bullet under the Energy Independence point would test a Romney administration’s willingness to help construction interests by reigning in the Environmental Protection Agency: “Eliminate regulations destroying the coal industry.”
Read MoreMonth: October 2012
Manufacturers group offers nonpartisan take on elections’ business consequences
Sources: National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), Washington, D.C.; CP staff
As part of its “America Is At Stake” get out the vote campaign, NAM has posted an 80-second YouTube video to visualize federal government-rooted challenges manufacturers face—complete with business-themed sound bites from Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan.
Read MoreFTC draws limits for carbon, environmental product certification claims
Sources: Federal Trade Commission (FTC); CP staff
Through its revised “Green Guides,” FTC aims to help marketers ensure that claims about their products’ environmental attributes are truthful and nondeceptive. Revisions reflect hundreds of industry and consumer comments on previously proposed revisions, plus new sections on carbon offset references, “green” certifications and seals, and renewable materials claims.
Read MoreProprietary Cemex mix cuts ICF walls’ rebar requirements by 75 percent
Source: Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V., Monterrey, Mexico
The Mexico construction materials giant Cemex and Cemex USA launched in the United States Fortium ICF, a construction material specifically engineered to reduce the time and material needed to build vertical concrete wall systems, such as insulated concrete form building envelopes, while providing substantial savings in long-term maintenance and energy costs.
Read MoreUSGBC opens two-month comment period for LEED v4
Source: U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, D.C.
USGBC is accepting comments through December 10 on a draft of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Version 4 (LEED v4) rating system. The draft includes about 35 credits open for comment, and has been revised in response to feedback from previous public comment periods to further improve clarity, increase flexibility and options for project teams, and remove unsuitable requirements from previous drafts.
Read MoreNRMCA adopts AIA-backed, carbon-streamlining 2030 Challenge
Source: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Silver Spring, Md.
To help concrete producers reduce their carbon footprint, NRMCA reported that it has signed on to the 2030 Challenge for Products, a global challenge to specify and manufacture products that meet a carbon footprint of 30 percent below the product average through 2014 and subsequently improve on this reduction: 35 percent in 2015; 40 percent in 2020; 45 percent in 2025; and 50 percent in 2030. Issued by American Institute of Architects-affiliated Architecture 2030, the 2030 Challenge for Products builds on the widely adopted original 2030 Challenge, which calls for the operation of all new buildings and major renovations to be carbon neutral by 2030.
Read MoreInvestor solidifies Oberfield’s position with Wellnitz, Wilson Concrete deals
Sources: The Anderson Group, LLC, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; CP staff
Anderson Group has expanded Columbus, Ohio-based Oberfield’s, LLC’s stake as one of the Midwest’s leading concrete masonry and landscape unit operators, acquiring block producers Wellnitz Co., Columbus, and Wilson Concrete Products, Dayton. The transactions net a production facility, plus broader customer base and market penetration.
Read MoreMeadow Burke ‘connects’ with seismic resistance in structural precast
Source: Meadow Burke LLC, Tampa, Fla.
The DT Connector is the first product of its kind designed to reduce seismic activity-rooted damage in precast structures by improving the performance of chord connectors subject to seismic events. Meadow Burke unveiled the hardware at the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute Convention in Nashville, noting that precast construction practitioners have always been challenged with limiting structural damage in large-scale buildings during seismic activity.
Read More16 PCI producers honored in 50th Awards of Excellence program
Source: Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Chicago
Twenty-four projects throughout North America were recognized in the 50th Annual PCI Design Awards Competition. The awards program includes best-in-class awards for both transportation structures and buildings, as well as special awards for industry advancement, sustainable design, and all-precast concrete. Eighteen buildings and six transportation projects were recognized in this year’s competition.
Read MoreLabor Secretary: 2011 workplace fatalities decrease, still average 13 per day
Source: U.S. Department of Labor
Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries indicate that the number of fatal work injuries last year was slightly lower than final results from 2010: 4,609 versus 4,690.
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