ASTM Advances Sustainable Non-Hydraulic Cements

ASTM C01 Committee on Cement recently approved the first standards addressing non-hydraulic cements and specifically, cements that require carbonation curing. With almost several years in the making, ASTM C1905, Specification for Cements that Require Carbonation Curing and ASTM C1910, Standard Test Methods for Cements that Require Carbonation Curing set the requirements for specifying these unique cements. Approval emerged from Committee…

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EPA opens $100 million grant program for construction material EPDs

Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CP staff The Environmental Protection Agency is accepting through January 8 applications for grants under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)-funded Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products program. Budgeted at $100 million, it will support a) businesses that process or manufacture, remanufacture or refurbish construction materials or products in development and verification…

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UN office paves path to agencies’ low carbon material procurement

Officials of global or national cement, concrete and steel groups recently convened in Vienna for a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) workshop aimed at developing a harmonized guideline for Product Category Rules. PCR published according to widely recognized standards underpin Environmental Product Declarations (EPD), the principal tools public and private construction stakeholders use when assessing carbon dioxide emissions associated…

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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…

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Digitizing production and QC: Nothing to lose, and so much to gain

Optimizing the production side of ready mix operations reduces cost, manual processes, carbon emissions, and wasted human potential The production side of the ready mix industry has traditionally consisted of many manual processes. Think about your own operation: Do your batch operators sit behind a screen from the time they arrive at the plant until it is time to go…

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Life cycle assessment standards group revises PCR, EPD preparation

Sources: American Center for Life Cycle Assessment, Washington, D.C.; CP staff The “2022 ACLCA PCR Guidance – Process and Methods Toolkit: Creating standardized, consistent, and reliable PCRs & EPDs for transparency, procurement, and supply chain data” provides process checklists for each of the roles in product category rule (PCR) creation. A successor to charter 2013 guidance, the document features methods…

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What Buy Clean means for the concrete industry

And how concrete producers can capitalize on the federal government’s changing policy landscape In December 2021, the White House issued an executive order focused on reducing emissions across federal government properties. The order introduces a “Buy Clean” meant to reduce carbon emissions arising from the production or manufacturing and use of building materials. For the first time, suppliers of concrete…

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Federal agencies trigger a third flourish for Environmental Product Declarations

Our coverage of Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for ready mixed and manufactured concrete dates to 2013. The record of producers and their national associations responding to market signals calling for such documents continues to be exemplary.  This past month saw a third turning point in EPDs’ evolution from a target of green building practitioners, to data files for the Embodied…

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Lanxess moves first in EPD for iron oxide pigments

Lanxess Corp. will feature an extensive concrete pigment portfolio at The Precast Show 2022, March 3-5 in Kansas City, Mo. The Inorganic Pigments business unit will present Bayferrox red, yellow, black and brown iron oxide pigments, plus green shades based on Colortherm chromium oxides, along with recently verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Lanxess is the first synthetic iron oxide pigment…

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General Services Administration invites input on low-carbon concrete

Sources: General Services Administration; CP staff The agency overseeing much federal building development and construction has formally issued “Request for Information Regarding Concrete: Environmental Product Declarations and Low Embodied Carbon Products,” inviting EPD data and responses to a nine-point questionnaire at a dedicated portal. Over a two-week survey concluding March 1, the General Services Administration aims to gather information on concrete…

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