Design Initiatives to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Concrete for Engineers and Geoscientists

This course addresses the complexity and scale of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the concrete industry and the role architects can play to reduce these emissions. It explores the actions that have been employed by the cement and concrete industries to lower its environmental impact. Market drivers that address materials' environmental footprint such as LEED and the Living Building Challenge will be addressed. Impact measurement tools such as Environmental Product Declarations will be discussed. The course will conclude by exploring emerging innovations to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete.

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the production process of concrete and explain how its production impacts greenhouse gas emissions.
• Evaluate changes in the material categories of environmental stewardship programs such as LEED v4 and The Living Building Challenge 2.0.
• Utilize assessment tools such as Environmental Product Declarations in order to understand a material’s environmental impact.
• Summarize the International Energy Agency’s Blue Map Scenario for the concrete industry’s carbon emission reduction targets and describe methods that may be employed by architects to help reach these environmental objectives.

Speaker

Kevin Davis

Carbon Cure Technologies

Kevin Davis is responsible for market development for CarbonCure Technologies for the Canadian and western US Regions. Based in Vancouver, BC, Kevin has several years’ experience in managing sales and marketing initiatives across a number of sectors in the concrete construction space.

Davis is currently active in a number of sustainability and carbon reduction initiatives through organizations such as the Carbon Leadership Forum, the Embodied Carbon Network, and the Zero Carbon Emission programs through the CAGBC and USGBC. By also being active in direct concrete industry groups such as Concrete BC, ACI, and the NRMCA he is able to connect focused efforts between industry and the market.

CarbonCure is leading a global initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of the concrete manufacturing space by 500 MT annually. Through its network of more than 225 plants across North America and Asia this once distant goal comes closer to reality with each new project.