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Month: January 2020

PRODUCERS – JANUARY 2020

Concrete News

ConcreteDirect, a digital solutions brand of LafargeHolcim Ltd., has selected Amsterdam-based HERE Technologies as mapping and location services provider. ConcreteDirect manages orders and tracks deliveries of ready mixed concrete through a mobile application, available on iOS and Android. Customers can place, amend and confirm orders in just a few taps, and subsequently view upcoming deliveries and receive important notifications at their fingertips. They can likewise track the progress of ongoing pours, always informed of where their concrete is and when it arrives.

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Industry-Wide Environmental Product Declaration matches latest standards

Concrete News
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With data from 155 producers operating 1,954 plants, the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association has published a third version of its industry average or industry-wide environmental product declaration (IW-EPD). The document functions as a national proxy for the bulk of concrete in residential, commercial and public construction, and complies with the latest Product Category Rule for Concrete, released earlier this year.

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NPCA, PCI delineate plant certification requirements by product category

Concrete News
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The National Precast Concrete Association and Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute have issued Joint Concrete Products List (JCPL 11-19) to alleviate confusion regarding precast and prestressed concrete product certification programs, and enable specifiers to easily determine whether products require NPCA or PCI certification, or whether either is allowable. The document ensures accurate specification of certification programs and that all appropriately certified plants are able to bid a project.

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Partnership revisits Calera-refined carbon dioxide mineralization

Concrete News
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Northern California-based Blue Planet and utility infrastructure specialist Kamine Development, Bedminster, N.J., have teamed to deploy the former company’s mineralization technology for converting power plant carbon dioxide emissions to a concrete-grade, synthetic limestone. The net CO2-sequestration effect has the potential to offset emissions associated with portland cement production and render a concrete mix designed with the synthetic limestone as carbon neutral or negative.

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Energy Department laboratory hosts 3D-printed turbine foundation tests

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A $250,000 infusion from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade’s Advanced Industries Accelerator Grant Program will position Boulder-based concrete construction specialist RCAM Technologies and technology integrator Accucode Inc. to develop wind energy components using 3D printing methods. The grant supports RCAM work on a concrete wind turbine foundation with the potential to reduce offshore deployment costs by up to $4 million per structure and $400 million per plant. The firm will use the funding to expand its 3D concrete printing capabilities at two Colorado partner locations: the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, and Accucode’s new Colorado Springs facility.

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Design-build solution tames combined sewer overflow discharges

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The $78 million Southwestern Parkway Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Basin project, a component of Louisville and Jefferson County (Ky.) Metropolitan Sewer District’s federal Consent Decree to mitigate CSO discharges to local waterways, received the Design-Build Institute of America’s 2019 Best in Engineering Design Award and National Award of Excellence (Water/Wastewater) recognition.

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Labor Board walks back union election rule’s ‘ambush’ aspects

Concrete News

A lengthy, late-2019 notice in the Federal Register outlines modifications to the National Labor Relations Board’s Representation–Case Procedures rule, which saw 25 amendments in 2014-2105 as a part of a significant policy shift under President Barack Obama. Changes effective April 2020 sunset certain provisions enabling what opponents dubbed “ambush elections” by narrowing the window between a union petition for bargaining unit representation and rank & file voting from a 38- to 28-day average.

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Transportation economist: 2020 outlays outpace inflation

Concrete News
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The U.S. transportation infrastructure market is expected to grow at least 5 percent this year, fueled by increased federal, state and local government investment, according to American Road & Transportation Builders Association Chief Economist Dr. Alison Premo Black. Total construction and related-market activity in 2020 should reach $300.4 billion, up from $286.5 billion in 2019 after adjusting for project costs and inflation.

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