An exclusive focus this year on ready mixed concrete under the Environmental Protection Agency-aligned Energy Star program will provide producers with resources to enhance energy efficiency, cut costs and strengthen sustainability metrics. The effort mirrors an established cement industry template, where producers and program officials set annual power and fuel consumption reduction targets as plant operations maintain or increase year-over-year…
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EPA stresses construction material PCR, EPD data integrity
The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pollution Control, tasked with assisting the General Services Administration and Department of Transportation in construction materials procurement tied to Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs, closed out 2024 with a call for stakeholder input on draft technical documents framing carbon dioxide emissions accounting and metrics. Officials bills a new program and banner, Construction Material Opportunities…
Read MoreEPA enforcement action, industry compliance metrics climb in 2024
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s FY2024 Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Annual Results indicate 1,800-plus concluded civil cases; over 120 criminal defendants charged; 2.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions reduced, treated or eliminated; and, inspections totaling north of 8,500. Work completed in FY 2024, EPA contends, “has established a solid foundation for fulfilling the agency’s mission to protect…
Read MoreFHWA sets Low Carbon Materials Program Concrete Thresholds
Sources: Federal Highway Administration; CP staff The Federal Highway Administration has published the driving metric—global warming potential (GWP), measured in kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per cubic yard (kgCO2e/yd.)—attending nine concrete mix classes specified for cast-in-place or precast transportation pavements, elements and structures. The Concrete Thresholds tables provide GWP data that Low Carbon Transportation Materials (LCTM) Grants recipients require to meet…
Read MoreEPA cites strength in 2024 enforcement action, compliance metrics
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…
Read MoreEPA publishes Buy Clean construction materials label program primers
The Environmental Protection Agency Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention has outlined an implementation plan for a program and publicly accessible registry providing data on greenhouse gas emissions attending principal building and infrastructure project inputs. The EPA Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials will define parameters and thresholds informing the White House Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which…
Read MoreEnergy Department powers promotion of low carbon construction materials
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…
Read MoreTech elite enlist WJE to prove low-carbon, data center slab mixes
Sources: Open Compute Project Foundation, Austin, Texas; CP staff The Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP) has tapped construction materials testing and engineering giant Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. (WJE) to measure a set of low embodied carbon concrete mixes for their potential in data center floors. The mixes use supplementary cementitious materials plus a portland cement alternative binder derived from…
Read MoreAdapting to Change
A visit with American Concrete Pipe Association Chair Tom Hartley Few are better suited than Tom Hartley to take the reins as 2024 American Concrete Pipe Association chair while members and staff execute a new strategic plan. With a tenure spanning 29 years at Rinker Materials, he has played a pivotal role across the enterprise, including tours in finance, mergers…
Read MoreConcrete, cement, aggregate interests prevail in EPA EPD grant program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced nearly $50 million in funding opportunities for cement, aggregate and concrete interests as part of an overall $160 million package for the Reducing Embodied Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Construction Materials and Products Program. “As America continues to build more and upgrade our nation’s infrastructure, cleaner construction materials like concrete and steel are increasingly…
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