ACPA, NPCA, PCI project garners nearly $10M EPA grant

Sources: National Precast Concrete Association, Carmel, Ind.; Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute, Chicago; CP staff

**The EPA grant will spawn a more detailed, granular successor to the current PCR guiding EPDs for precast, prestressed concrete and wet or dry cast structures.**

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has selected a joint National Precast Concrete Association, Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute and American Concrete Pipe Association project to receive a $9.975 million grant in the Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products Program. One of 38 selected for nearly $160 million in funding, the ACPA/NPCA/PCI project will focus on updating the precast concrete Product Category Rule and producing product-specific Environmental Product Declarations for building and nonbuilding structures, components or elements. It will entail developing an EPD generator and providing training and support to member producers in their declaration publishing efforts.

NPCA collaborated with PCI and ACPA to apply for the grant in January. The result is a five-year project that will provide valuable resources to producers and allow the associations to defray the cost for their members to create or update their EPDs. “Precast concrete is essential to the nation’s infrastructure, making it critical that the industry is prepared to meet the requirements,” says NPCA CEO Nick Rhoad. “Together with PCI and ACPA, we will be able to provide resources that put our members at the forefront of the effort to create more sustainable concrete products.”

“The resources in this grant will allow us to create tools for generating EPDs that are specific to precast concrete and greatly accelerate our members’ ability to create them for their specific plants and products,” adds PCI CEO Bob Risser. “By combining efforts, we will gain efficiency and avoid duplication of efforts.”