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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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…
Read MoreSources: 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…
Read MoreAnd 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…
Read MoreOur 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 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…
Read MoreSources: 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…
Read MoreBY DON MARSH A Carbon Leadership Forum team updates us this month on the trajectory of procurement policy compelling suppliers or contractors to include environmental product declarations (EPDs) in public building and infrastructure project bids. Laws or pending legislation reference declarations abiding International Organization for Standardization terms, which strive for data uniformity and apples to apples comparison of material or…
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An updated Product Category Rule (PCR) will inform new Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for block, segmental retaining wall, segmental paving, manufactured stone veneer and other manufactured concrete units. A PCR provides an established methodology for preparing EPD and conducting a life cycle analysis. Submission of declarations increasingly influences specification of products or materials where project principals target environmental certification or…
Read MoreSources: Slag Cement Association, Farmington Hills, Mich.
The Slag Cement Association is finalizing the next version of a Product Category Rule informing ground granulated blast furnace slag producers’ Environmental Product Declarations.
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