A hastily conducted first quarter survey spawning the General Services Administration’s Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards, noted here in May, set the table for comparably quick, parallel action by the Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency (note Federal Buy Clean Initiative, page 13), plus the Department of Energy (DOE). The latter’s new “Industrial Decarbonization Roadmap” identifies pathways—Energy Efficiency; Industrial…
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Sustaining Results
A visit with American Concrete Pipe Association Chairman Kurt Johnson Sharing fellow members’ eagerness to put two years of business and workforce disruptions behind them, Kurt Johnson embraces the challenges and positive market signals accompanying his 2022 American Concrete Pipe Association Chairman’s term. “For more than a century, this organization has pulled member producers, associates and allies together for the…
Read MorePiedmont Prowess
Gossett Concrete Pipe tests next generation Besser BiDi Much like real estate marketability, “location” repeats when measuring the success Gossett Concrete Pipe Co. (GCPC) has realized in South Carolina’s Upstate over nearly 80 years, especially the past 30. Most expansion-minded peer operators in markets of comparable growth have found themselves land locked—compelled to look for larger parcels beyond the towns…
Read MoreSteelmakers’ carbon emissions study template suits cement counterparts
By Don Marsh A new study, “SMA/CRU Emissions Analysis,” concludes that the output of Steel Manufacturers Association (SMA) members—electric arc furnace (EAF) operators in the U.S.—has a carbon intensity approximately 75 percent lower than that of peers running traditional blast furnaces. The EAF process underpins nearly 100 percent of concrete reinforcing steel and 70 percent of overall tonnage milled in…
Read MoreCommunity catalyst
Lafarge Canada has teamed with BGC Ottawa (formerly the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa) to build the new Taggart Parkes Family Clubhouse, donating upward of 500 cubic meters of ECOPact low-carbon ready mixed concrete for the 15,000-square-foot facility. The recent grand opening ceremony marked a special milestone for the thousands of children and youth in underserved neighborhoods in the…
Read More‘Safety’ advocates prove unpersuasive in drivers’ hours exemption challenge
A late-July U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision denies a petition to review a final rule expanding a short-haul exemption and modifying a 30-minute break requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours of service regulation. The former action entailed a maximum duty period change from 12 to 14 hours, securing HOS compliance flexibility that National…
Read MoreEco Material and Cemex define Green Bond-rated investments
Our cover story subject has hit the ground running since its official launch from an early-2022, $775 million deal uniting Boral Resources, North American fly ash top gun, and Green Cement Inc., Texas-centric developer of PozzoSlag supplementary cementitious material and PozzoCem primary binder. We catch South Jordan, Utah-based Eco Material Technologies Inc. at an unfolding inflection point. In a span…
Read MoreBeneficial Bunker
St. Louis general contractor/construction manager Tarlton Corp., in partnership with Morton, Ill. concrete and masonry contractor Otto Baum Company Inc., recently completed a cast-in-place proton therapy vault for an OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center clinic in Peoria, Ill. With wall sections up to 25-ft. thick, the $5.5 million structure is Tarlton Concrete Division’s second such mass feat in the…
Read MoreIndustry producers cruise ahead of CO2 emissions reporting rule
Examples of carbon dioxide emissions reporting by public cement, concrete and aggregate producers accompany an overview of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission-proposed “The Enhancement and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” rule (pages 12-13). Through guidance detailing environmental metrics, operators like Charah Solutions, Holcim Ltd., Summit Materials and Vulcan Materials rise to a familiar position: Ahead of the regulatory…
Read MoreAgency eclipses typical government pace with embodied carbon action
The U.S. Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration were set for center stage this year thanks to Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding and contract activity. Yet a sister agency with its $75 billion building and pavement contracting budget is stealing some of the thunder. The General Services Administration is capturing attention with its Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Standards…
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