Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s FY2024 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Annual Results report indicates 1,800-plus concluded civil cases, over 120 criminal defendants charged, more than 225 million pounds of recorded pollution reductions, and 8,500+ inspections, a nearly 10 percent year-over-year increase. Work completed over the October 2023-September 2024 window, EPA contends, establishes “a solid foundation…
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Programmers eye blockchain-enabled concrete carbon credit tracking
Sources: CarbonMeta Technologies Inc., Woodinville, Wash.; CP staff CarbonMeta Technologies has filed a provisional patent application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for a verifiable process that documents and tracks sequestered carbon dioxide in concrete as carbon credits. The application outlines an innovative system that combines advanced carbon sequestration techniques and blockchain technology methods, ensuring data transparency…
Read MoreEmissions calculator programmer EC3 releases embodied carbon primer
Sources: Building Transparency, Seattle; CP staff The nonprofit organization behind the environmental product declaration data- and document-laden Embodied Carbon Calculator (EC3), has published a guide preparing manufacturers, producers and suppliers for the Buy Clean policies surfacing at federal, state and local agency levels. In Manufacturer’s Guide to Embodied Carbon, Building Transparency provides building carbon emissions accounting basics and steps for…
Read MoreCement, steel production emissions add up to EPA rounding errors
The Environmental Protection Agency’s new Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks cites 5.586 billion metric tons (mt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions for 2021, a 6 percent increase over the prior year. The Inventory spans six economic sectors; the third largest, Industry, accounted for 24 percent, or 1.34 billion mt of CO2e in 2021. U.S. GREENHOUSE GAS…
Read MoreBlock-Lite, CarbonBuilt, Aircapture eye carbon dioxide-to-concrete first
Sources: CarbonBuilt, Los Angeles; CP staff The 4 Corners Carbon Coalition has awarded $150,000 to Arizona concrete masonry producer Block-Lite, plus partners CarbonBuilt and Aircapture, to develop the world’s first fully-integrated direct air capture (DAC)-to-concrete assembly. Based at the producer’s Flagstaff plant, the project has the potential to yield market rate block exhibiting 70 percent lower embodied carbon versus conventional…
Read MoreContract-laden GSA calls for concrete, asphalt EPD submittals
A new U.S. General Services Administration standard targeting low embodied concrete on federal projects will require contractors to provide environmental product declarations (EPD), where available, from ready mixed suppliers. It compels procurement of concrete exhibiting production stage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at levels 20 percent below national averages for compressive strength classes. EPDs express the GHG metric as global warming…
Read MoreHolcim to cut water consumption in concrete, upstream operations
Holcim AG aims to reduce cement, aggregates and ready mixed concrete operations’ respective water intensities by 33 percent, 20 percent and 15 percent through 2030. Applicable to namesake, Lafarge, Aggregate Industries, Lattimore Materials and other North America or overseas brands, the targets are part of a global strategy to become nature-positive by restoring and preserving water and biodiversity, while…
Read MoreInterior Department scientists define climate change projection limits
A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey—the indispensable source of portland cement, crushed stone and sand & gravel shipment data—stresses the need to factor uncertainties attending climate change predictions, especially as models link present greenhouse gas emission levels to earth temperature trajectories through the year 2100.
Read MoreLafargeHolcim joins Apple, other corporate elites on MIT Climate Consortium
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge The just-launched MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) convenes an alliance of leaders from a broad range of industries and aims to drive solutions addressing climate change threats. Organizers characterize it as uniting “similarly motivated, highly creative and influential companies to work with MIT to build a process, market, and ambitious implementation strategy for…
Read MoreU.S. Geological Survey reveals limits of climate change projections
Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior; CP staff A new report from the USGS—the indispensable source of portland cement, crushed stone and sand & gravel shipment data—stresses the need to factor uncertainties attending climate change predictions, especially as models link present greenhouse gas emission levels to earth temperature trajectories through the year 2100.
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