Sources: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; CP staff The Environmental Protection Agency invites comments through April 4 on “Criteria for Product Category Rules (PCRs) to Support the Label Program for Low Embodied Carbon Construction Materials.” Posted here, the 30-page document offers guidelines to improve PCRs by establishing consistent data quality and transparency requirements for Environmental Product Declarations (EPD). The proposed criteria…
Read MoreTag: PCR
New rule steers block, paver, veneer stone Environmental Product Declarations
Sources: UL Environmental, Northbrook, Ill.; CP staff 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…
Read MoreLehigh issues first EPD based on Cement Product Category Rule 2.0
Lehigh Hanson, Inc., Irving, Texas; CP staff
Lehigh Cement has published the industry’s first Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) utilizing the new North American Product Category Rule (PCR) for Portland, Blended, Masonry, Mortar, and Stucco Cements. The latter document enables Lehigh and fellow Portland Cement Association and Cement Association of Canada members to tailor EPD to sustainability and green building practitioners’ increasingly robust transparency standards.
Read MoreCSA JOINS PCR, EPD PROGRAM OPERATOR CONSORTIUM
ASTM-led consortium eyes improved PCR, LCA and EPD for green building interests
Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
A first-of-its-kind consortium in the green-building industry convened 15 manufacturers and industry representatives in a roundtable discussion on the needs for enhancing product transparency and stewardship through effective product category rules (PCR), life cycle assessment reports (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPD), and Sustainable Minds Transparency Reports.
Read MoreASTM, ICC ES pool resources in PCR-, LCA-, EPD-centered consortium
Officials from ASTM International, the International Code Council’s ICC Evaluation Service subsidiary and Michigan-based NSF International have announced the first Program Operator Consortium, serving as an expert resource for creating product category rules (PCR), reviewing life cycle assessment (LCA) reports, plus verifying and publishing environmental product declarations (EPD).
Read MoreASTM, ICC ES pool resources in PCR-, LCA-, EPD-centered consortium
Sources: ASTM International, West Conshohocken, Pa.; CP staff
Officials from ASTM, the (International Code Council) ICC Evaluation Service and Michigan-based NSF International have announced the first Program Operator Consortium, serving as an expert resource for creating product category rules (PCR), reviewing life cycle assessment (LCA) reports, plus verifying and publishing environmental product declarations (EPD).
Read MoreLife cycle factors gain in revised benchmark environmental standard
Sources: International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva; CP staff
A new version of a global standard behind 300,000 certifications annually, including parties developing Product Category Rules (PCR) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) backing green building rating measures, places increased emphasis on life-cycle thinking, considering each stage of a product or service, cradle to grave. ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems likewise addresses users’ recognition of the need to factor both external and internal elements that influence their impact, including climate volatility, plus proactive initiatives for greater environmental protection.
Read MorePositive notes on a good year’s end
The industry entered 2014 with limited tailwind. Last year’s cement shipments and concrete output fell a few points from 2012, and prolonged, catastrophic winter weather hampered construction through the end of March. Before the snow melted, a) good market indicators supporting overdue plant and fleet investment were evident; b) one global and two domestic transactions surfaced, altering the top U.S. and Canadian concrete, cement and aggregate producer ranks; c) ready mixed and manufactured-concrete producers embraced new protocols for the LEED v4 era of green building; and, d) mobile device-suited information technology offerings surfaced, inviting the use of big data analytics to lower concrete production and delivery costs.
Read MoreIndustry’s EPD, PCR library stacks up well
Cement and concrete interests have embraced incentives in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED v4 rating system and related standards through which project owners and designers view or stand to view cast-in-place, precast and masonry specifications.