Recycling is central to concrete, cement and aggregate sustainability efforts This column is the start of a new media partnership between SEMCO Publishing’s Concrete Products, Rock Products and Cement Optimized publications, and our organization—the Construction & Demolition Recycling Association (CDRA)—that will highlight the important role recycling aggregate materials plays in the sustainability efforts of the concrete, natural aggregate, and cement…
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Federal agencies have spent more than two years reviewing carbon dioxide emissions associated with load-bearing construction material processing or production. Officials recognize regional or local factors affecting the CO2 emissions profile of concrete, asphalt and steel, and have positioned 2025 as a turning point for procurement terms applicable to federally funded transportation and building work. The Federal Highway Administration took…
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This year began with a shareholder vote realigning the portfolio and ownership of Denver-based Summit Materials Inc. around Argos North America Corp. cement and ready mixed production assets and top shareholder Cementos Argos S.A. It closes with prospects for a similar action transforming New York Stock Exchange-traded Summit Materials to a subsidiary of privately held Quikrete Holdings Inc., Atlanta. The…
Read MoreNot long ago I was asked by a person outside of the ready mixed concrete business about our greatest strength and asset as an industry. Without hesitation, I immediately told them it was our drivers. Drivers make up a total of approximately two-thirds of all the employees for a ready mixed producer. They deliver concrete to the point of where…
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Familiar names dominate a new White House report on Federal Buy Clean Initiative and Department of Energy (DOE) Industrial Demonstration Program progress. The administration salutes six concrete or cement producers, CO2-mineralizing process developer CarbonCure Technologies, and four cementitious material startup companies for corporate or project-specific commitments outlined in response to Buy Clean and Industrial Demonstrations calls to action. Commitments referencing…
Read MoreA new report from The Climate Group, based in London with a New York office, looks beyond carbon dioxide emissions reduction cost factors in concrete and steel to price premiums the market might bear when presented conventional versus low-carbon material options. “The Steel and Concrete Transformation: 2024 market outlook on lower emission steel and concrete” was released late last month…
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Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) authors’ recognition of technology transfer hurdles and risk-averse specification tendencies in construction is evident in a slew of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office and National Laboratories initiatives supporting low carbon materials awareness and procurement. The DOE Industrial Efficiency and Decarbonization Office (IEDO) is eyeing a National Laboratory-led Cement and Concrete Center of Excellence to accelerate…
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The Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision should relieve concrete, construction and trucking interests of some uncertainties arising from federal agency rules or shield them when challenging such measures in federal courts. Loper plaintiffs questioned a Department of Commerce rule that hinged on authority indicated in Chevron U.S.A Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Counsel. That 1984 high court…
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White House and Department of Labor (DOL) staff attempts to lower contractor margins and raise public-construction costs hit a roadblock late last month in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Lubbock Division. Associated General Contractors of America-led plaintiffs prevailed in a challenge to three provisions in the DOL’s “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations” final rule,…
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The White House and General Services Administration have marked the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)-funded low embodied carbon (LEC) construction materials procurement program pilot, noting “a dramatic increase of thousands more environmental product declarations used to identify sustainably-manufactured construction materials over the past year. EPDs are a key tool for gaining visibility into a product’s environmental impacts…
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