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| Promotion News |
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| NRMCA to Develop New Industry-Wide EPD for Concrete - DO NOT Miss Your Chance! |
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This article appeared in the most recent edition of the NRMCA News. Most of our ready mixed concrete producer members did not participate in the first two opportunities that were presented. If you are planning to supply LEED projects in the future you should take the time to read it and take action.
IW-EPD History: Due to market drivers (i.e., Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in green building standards, most notably LEED V4) NRMCA published version 1.0 of the Industry-Wide EPD (IW-EPD) in 2014. 70 companies representing over 2,300 plants participated.
Afterwards, market EPD activity grew NRMCA-member pressure to amend the original IW-EPD to include additional companies and plants. So, in 2016 NRMCA launched IW-EPD v2 report which included a revised total of 88 companies and 2,519 plants. Again, with NRMCA members responding to LEED v4 projects, NRMCA will develop a 3rd version of the IW-EPD in 2019.
Market Drivers: A summary of drivers to develop a new IW-EPD are as follows:
• Over the past 3 years, LCA and EPD activity has consistently increased year over year in the standards for concrete and competing materials and products.
• There have been 2,555 LEED v4 projects registered to date, and every U.S. state has at least one (1) LEED v4 project registered. Credits pertaining to EPDs are integral to LEED v4 and other standards.
• Certain U.S. states are driving LCA and EPD legislation for public projects.
• The product category rule (PCR) for concrete is expiring. Evolving PCR standards are now requiring EPDs to be more consistent and disclose more environmental impacts. This has forced the concrete industry to renew its PCR and therefore, a new IW-EPD must be developed in compliance with the new PCR.
• Only those producers who provide data for the Industry-Wide EPD can be listed and be eligible to use the document for a LEED submittal.
• EPD language is being discussed in infrastructure specifications and sustainability standards (e.g., FHWA Sustainable Pavement Program).
• A company can produce product-specific EPDs, but they are expensive and time consuming. The NRMCA IW-EPD is significantly less expensive for NRMCA members.
• Participating companies can market the IW-EPD in the green building market.
• By participating in the NRMCA IW-EPD, you can maintain our industry’s leadership in environmental disclosure.
Consultant Support: NRMCA is working with the Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (Athena) to develop an Industry-Wide Environmental Product Declaration (IW-EPD) for concrete. Athena was the consultant that facilitated each v1 and v2 IW-EPD project. Similar to previous IW-EPD projects, all submitted operations data will remain independently collected and confidential through Athena.
Producer Role: As in the past, ready mixed concrete producers will submit data in a confidential format established by Athena. Past participants can be found here. Operations data will include energy use, material use, waste, distance of raw materials, water consumption, etc. A roster of participants will be finalized February 15, 2019. Any data you provide will remain completely confidential. Even if you participated in the previous versions, there is still the potential to supply data for v3 of the IW-EPD.
Why?? New product category rule (PCR) standards were developed since the last IW-EPD, therefore, requiring the concrete industry to renew the concrete PCR and develop a new IW-EPD in compliance with the new PCR.
What We Need from You Today: Please select someone from your company who will be the primary contact for this project. They will be responsible for collecting data from some of your plants in different regions of the country. Athena will be conducting the survey online and they will work with the primary contact to define how many and from which plants to collect data and what data to collect. To participate, compete in the green building marketplace and respond to other disclosure initiatives, you must register your company. To register your company for the IW-EPD v3, complete this form and email to Jacques Jenkins or fax: 301.585.4219.
Fee: The cost to participate is $50 per plant for NRMCA members. For non-NRMCA members, the fee is $250 per plant. Fees will be significantly higher if participation is requested after this project complete.
Questions: For technical information email James Bogdan, Sr. Director – Sustainability Initiatives or phone: 412.420.4138.
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