Sources: Chryso Group, Paris; Solidia Technologies, Piscataway, N.J.; CP staff
A new partnership will see admixture specialist Chryso and low carbon cement and concrete developer Solidia Technologies leverage their chemical expertise to improve the sustainability performance and material properties of the latter company’s namesake precast products.
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Sources: Global Cement and Concrete Association, London; CP staff
Forty leading cement and concrete companies envision a 30-year route to carbon neutrality in “2050 Climate Ambition,” billed as the first statement of its kind on driving down the carbon dioxide footprint of the world’s most used man-made material.
Read MoreSources: LafargeHolcim, Chicago; CP staff
To address calls for streamlining embodied carbon in private and public work, LafargeHolcim plans to issue Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) covering shipments from its U.S. Aggregates and Construction Materials (ACM) and Cement businesses. It will enlist top auditors and EPD Program Operators to prepare, verify and host a library of ready mixed concrete or cement declarations abiding the latest criteria for quantifying carbon dioxide emissions throughout raw material, processing, delivery and finishing phases.
Read MoreSource: National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, Alexandria,Va.; CP staff
A new National Ready Mixed Concrete Association podcast will feature experts from design, development, construction and related sectors on the benefits of specifying concrete for buildings and transportation infrastructure. Executive Vice President, Structures and Sustainability PE, SE, LEED AP Lionel Lemay kicks off the series July 23 discussing issues impacting the concrete and construction industries, including sustainability efforts that are among the organization’s most important goals.
Read MoreLehigh 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 MoreSources: CalPortland Co., Glendora, Calif.; CP staff
The two charter offerings in a new CalPortland line of blended portland-limestone cements (PLC) have an embodied carbon level about 10 percent below that of common ASTM C 150 materials. ADVANCEMENT LT (Light) is a lighter colored, higher albedo Type IL PLC suiting concrete in design and architectural conditions. ADVANCEMENT HS (High Sulfate) is formulated for general use concrete or when high sulfate resistance is required.
Read MoreSource: Cemex, S.A.B. de C.V., Monterrey, Mexico
A new Climate Action strategy positions Cemex to clip net specific carbon dioxide emissions 35 percent across a global cement, concrete and aggregates enterprise against a 1990 baseline level. The producer defined an additional double-digit percent reduction target for the decade ahead on top of a 22-plus percent CO2 emissions cut realized since climate change concerns gained prominence and spotlighted carbon-intensive sectors.
Read MoreSources: Kamine Development Corp., Bedminster, N.J.; CP staff
Blue Planet and utility infrastructure specialist Kamine Development have teamed to deploy the former company’s mineralization technology for converting power plant carbon dioxide emissions to a concrete-grade, synthetic limestone. The net CO2-sequestration effect has to potential to offset emissions associated with portland cement production and render a concrete mix designed with the synthetic limestone as carbon neutral or negative.
Read MoreSources: Thornton Tomasetti, New York; CP staff
A global engineer’s seven-year survey of 600-plus buildings assesses materials, structural components and facility types with the highest embodied carbon, and cites a market-driven trend toward increased use of supplementary cementitious materials and recycled steel as the largest driver of a reduction in that metric.
Read MoreSources: Sierra Club California; CP staff
The Marin County (Calif.) Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted an ordinance that adds a low-carbon concrete specification to the county’s building code, effective January 1, 2020. The new code applies to concrete mix designs for all private and public construction projects, and includes pathways for compliance with either reduced cement levels or lower-emission supplementary cementitious materials.
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