Oldcastle, Inc. is the North American arm of CRH plc (NYSE: CRH), one of the world’s leading building products and materials companies based in Dublin, Ireland. Oldcastle, Inc. has 35,000 employees across four product groups – CarbonCure has signed the deal with Northfield Block, part of the Oldcastle Architectural Products Group – the leading North American manufacturer of concrete masonry, precast, lawn, garden and paving products and a regional leader in clay brick. Oldcastle Architectural Products Group has more than 206 operating locations across 38 states and six Canadian provinces, and has more than 7,000 employees.

CarbonCure will install its retrofit carbon sequestering technology this month in Northfield Block’s concrete products plant in Morris, Illinois, which is 40 miles west of Chicago. By mid-summer, the plant’s three machines will be manufacturing architectural concrete products that contain sequestered CO₂ using CarbonCure’s proprietary technology. Northfield supplies product directly to commercial masonry and residential projects, and through retail outlets including Home Depot and Lowe’s.

The CarbonCure technology is compatible with Oldcastle’s impressive lineup of standard and green building products. “We are excited about our partnership with CarbonCure and the advanced technologies they bring for greener products in our industry,” says Oldcastle’s Regional President Craig Belasco. CarbonCure’s CEO, Robert Niven, shares Belasco’s enthusiasm. “We’re thrilled to announce this agreement – Northfield Block’s mandate of continuously innovating to strengthen their dominant market position aligns perfectly with CarbonCure’s”, says Niven.

CarbonCure’s retrofit technology chemically converts waste CO₂ into limestone to make stronger, greener concrete products. The technology is currently available for concrete blocks, pavers and segmental retaining walls, and the Company has plans to expand to the precast and ready mix markets. The Company is currently partnering with the world’s largest industrial gas supplier, Air Liquide, and leading concrete products manufacturers across North America.

About CarbonCure Technologies Inc.

CarbonCure Technologies is a clean technology developer deploying CO₂ sequestration solutions to concrete products manufacturers. The Company offers a complete package to customers which includes their proprietary retrofit technology to repurpose waste CO₂ to make concrete less carbon-intensive, along with market pull efforts to create specifications with leading architecture and design firms, and reporting tools such as Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Company is commercializing its technology with market leaders in California (Basalite Concrete Products), Ontario (Atlas Block), Nova Scotia (Shaw Brick), and Illinois (Northfield Block).

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Wagner, VP Marketing, at jwagner@carboncure.com or 1.902.489.4073.

Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at UC Davis Showcases Breakthrough Sustainability Technologies and Implements Concrete Firsts 

- Winery is expected to be first building at any university to be certified net zero energy under Living Building Challenge

DAVIS, Calif., May 29, 2013 —Today, at the grand opening of the Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery (JSWB) at UC Davis, Central Concrete Supply, Inc., a U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ-USCR) company, along with Basalite Concrete Products and CarbonCure Technologies, announced that the JSWB implemented many first-of-its-kind sustainable design and construction products, including two new concrete innovations.

UC Davis announced that the 8,500 square foot building is expected to be the first building at any university to be certified Net Zero Energy under the Living Building Challenge. This building will use various green services to provide sustainable resources, such as water harvesting and filtration and power production, to the adjacent Teaching and Research Winery and August A. Busch III Brewery and Food Science Laboratory.

Looking to reduce its carbon footprint, the JSWB and design team members looked to each of the concrete suppliers to provide high impact solutions. The project used more than 2,500 specially manufactured concrete masonry units (CMUs) made using CarbonCure technology, which permanently sequesters waste carbon dioxide into the units. This was the first project manufactured by Basalite Concrete Products utilizing the CarbonCure technology. The CarbonCure blocks, combined with the first use of Central Concrete’s low CO₂ 90% cement replacement mix, makes this the lowest-carbon CMU wall built to date. Fifty percent cement replacement was achieved in slab and foundations.

“Central Concrete appreciated working with such a forward-thinking design team, interested in pursuing innovative, sustainable product solutions for the Jess. S. Jackson Winery Building”, said Mike Donovan, director, quality and assurance, Central Concrete Supply. “Our combined efforts resulted in us producing an extremely low CO₂ concrete mix, with 90% cement replacement materials, for this project’s blockfill applications.”

Photo: Exterior view of Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at UC Davis. Photo Credit: Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers: http://gb-eng.com/.

Photo: Interior view of Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building at UC Davis showing CarbonCure blocks manufactured by Basalite Concrete Products. Photo Credit: Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers: http://gb-eng.com/.

Related Resources  

• UC Davis press release available here
• Pankow press kit available here
• Siegel and Strain project profile available here

About the Jess S. Jackson Sustainable Winery Building (JSWB)

Located at the University of California, Davis, the 8,500-square-foot building will be used to explore new research areas, including ways to maximize water conservation in wine production and sequester carbon dioxide during fermentation. With the technology that the JSWB uses, the winery plans to produce wine with a net-zero carbon footprint and to develop and apply models that are workable for the larger wine industry. For more information visit: http://caes.ucdavis.edu/. 

About Central Concrete

Central Concrete Supply Co., Inc., a business unit of U.S. Concrete, Inc. (NASDAQ-USCR), has been serving the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 60 years. The company is recognized for engineering higher-performing concrete than traditional concrete, while significantly lowering the carbon footprint with its low CO₂ mixes. For more information visit: http://centralconcrete.com.

About Basalite Concrete Products

Basalite Concrete Products, acquired by Pacific Coast Building Products in 1979, has become one of the largest suppliers of concrete products in the Western United States. Product lines include structural block, interlocking paving stones, wall systems, retaining walls, garden products and a full range of packaged concrete products. The use of Basalite concrete masonry units (CMUs) has grown rapidly in demand over the past couple of decades as a result of advances in building design and changes in architectural preference. Basalite presents a complete offering of colors, shapes and sizes and often works with architects to create custom effects that showcase a building’s design. For more information visit: www.basalite.com.

About CarbonCure Technologies

CarbonCure Technologies is a materials science innovator deploying CO₂-sequestration solutions to concrete products manufacturers. Concrete is the second most widely used material globally and is responsible for 6-8% of total greenhouse gas emissions. The Company’s proprietary technology is an elegant method of repurposing waste CO₂ to make concrete less carbon-intensive. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Company is commercializing its construction products technology with market leaders in California (Basalite Concrete Products), Ontario (Atlas Block) and Nova Scotia (Shaw Group). These manufacturers offer architects attractive and affordable design options with “simply better concrete” for green building masonry projects. CarbonCure products were recognized by BuildingGreen.com as one of the Top 10 Building Products for 2013. For more information visit: www.carboncure.com.

Now that a supplier of ready mix concrete has achieved three groundbreaking milestones involving environmental designations for its products, will a flood of other companies that provide materials for green buildings follow suit? The question arises after Central Concrete Supply Inc. became the first ready mix supplier in the United States to offer concrete environmental product declarations (EPDs). It also is the first such supplier to receive external verification of the EPDs in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) 14025 standard and ISO 21930. Furthermore, the San Jose, Calif.-based business, which serves the San Francisco Bay area, is believed to be the first U.S. company in any industry to produce EPDs at the individual product level.

What are the chances that other providers of concrete will seek these designations anytime soon? Will more suppliers of products for green buildings seek to produce EPDs at the individual product level? Here is what Central Vice President and General Manager Jeff Davis told ConstructionPro Week in response to these questions.

“I believe that the chance is very high” that other concrete suppliers will pursue such designations, Davis said. “One, it is important to know that concrete is 5 percent of the U.S. footprint and that, as the industry continues to recognize and respond to ways of reducing GHG [greenhouse-gas] emissions, low-carbon-dioxide concrete solutions are increasingly being viewed as a solution with a positive impact. Combine that with the fact that there are proposed changes in LEED V4 [the next version of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system for green buildings] for transparency utilizing EPDs and [that there is] a growth in green building led by Architecture 2030,” a non-profit organization whose stated mission is to achieve a dramatic reduction in the building sector’s GHG emissions by changing the way buildings and developments are planned, designed, and constructed. “The expected result: other producers of ready mix concrete will respond and develop EPDs for their respective products, particularly if designers begin to specify EPDs as a requirement in their project specifications.”

But what needs to happen for more companies within the construction community to pursue EPDs?

“Both public and private owners can drive the acceptance of EPDs by directing their design teams to require EPDs in the products specified in their projects,” Davis said. “But, most importantly, by using the information contained in EPDs, they can make informed design decisions that can guide them in improving both the performance and the sustainability of their projects.”

An EPD is a standardized (ISO 14025/TR) label that is designed to communicate the environmental impact of a product in a scientifically sound, streamlined, and comparable format. EPDs include information on the environmental impact of the product throughout its lifecycle. Often compared to nutrition labels, EPDs are intended to provide the facts and transparency needed to make informed decisions as they relate to such characteristics as global-warming potential, ozone depletion, and water use.

Davis explained that all 1,479 concrete mixes produced from Central’s 12 manufacturing facilities in northern California have been certified with type III EPDs by the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA). As new concrete mixes are developed, they will be submitted to NRMCA for certification, Davis said.

Just Us! has a greenhouse in the Annapolis Valley where they are growing seeds for their garden this year. Their gardens were beautiful last year, and they are expecting their gardens to be equally as beautiful and fruitful this year.

[Photo credit: Just Us! 2013].

CarbonCure’s low-carbon concrete blocks were donated by the Nova Scotia-based clean technology company, and were used in the greenhouse to support the seeding beds.

[Photo credit: Just Us! 2013].

According to a Just Us! representation, CarbonCure blocks were “an integral part of their heated seeding bed in the greenhouse”. Maybe the CarbonCure team can get a free coffee in return for the blocks they donated!

Lux Research has rated green building technology developer CarbonCure Technologies favorably in their most recent company report. The Halifax, Nova Scotia clean technology company is one of a few venture-backed companies that achieved the coveted ‘positive’ rating, based on metrics such as addressable market size, barriers to growth, intellectual property position, partnerships and momentum.

The rating coincides with CarbonCure’s launch of its $1-3 million Series B fundraising campaign set to close this fall. Chief Financial Officer, Keith Abriel says, “this round we’re looking for strategic investors that will complement our go-to-market and technology strategy for new concrete applications, as we expand into large markets like precast and ready-mix concrete.”

To date CarbonCure has been funded through angel investment, industry partners, government funding programs and venture capital firm Innovacorp. Thomas Rankin, Investment Director at Innovacorp says, “in the past year, CarbonCure has achieved significant technical milestones, while receiving positive market signals from early adopters and end-users in the building industry. Like Lux, we have a favourable outlook on the company and expect the technology to become widely adopted in the marketplace.”

The most recent Lux publication on green building materials, circulated globally amongst investment groups, recently upgraded CarbonCure from “wait-and-see” to “positive”. Aditya Ranade, Senior Analyst at Lux, says CarbonCure’s rating was upgraded due to “the company’s delivering on the demonstration project goals, getting close to the first royalty revenue, and introducing new products going beyond the block market into pavers, and then ready-mix.” CarbonCure’s market potential also falls directly in line with Lux’s take on investment trends in the green building materials market. With $4.06 billion in VC investments since 2010, Lux has advised its clients that ”low-carbon cement and concrete are all technology areas investors should pursue [1].”

CarbonCure’s retrofit technology chemically converts waste CO₂ into limestone to make stronger, greener concrete products. The technology is currently available for concrete blocks, pavers and segmented retaining walls, and will be expanded to the lucrative precast and ready mix markets. The Company is currently partnering with the world’s largest industrial gas supplier, Air Liquide, and concrete products manufacturers across North America – Shaw, Basalite and Atlas Block. CarbonCure products are being well received in the marketplace, having recently been specified in construction projects worth more than $1 billion in Ontario.

About CarbonCure Technologies Inc.

CarbonCure Technologies is a clean technology developer deploying CO₂ sequestration solutions to concrete products manufacturers. The Company’s proprietary technology is a unique method of repurposing waste CO₂ to make concrete less carbon-intensive. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Company is commercializing its technology with market leaders in California (Basalite Concrete Products), Ontario (Atlas Block) and Nova Scotia (Shaw Group).

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Wagner, VP Marketing, at jwagner@carboncure.com or 1.902.489.4073.

[1] “Building a Green 21st Century: Tracking Venture Investments in Green Buildings to Uncover New Opportunities“, July 2012, Lux Research Inc.

– CarbonCure announced that it has been selected to join the Canadian Technology Accelerator (CTA) in New York City, a program launched by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT). The program is a joint partnership between the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in New York City and San Francisco, with the support of the Business Development Bank of Canada and Sustainable Development Technology Canada. CarbonCure joins a list of prominent innovative Canadian clean technology companies looking to do business in the United States. The CTA program is designed to accelerate the participating companies’ access to fast-growing, dynamic global markets by providing a suite of unique resources and contacts.

“We are thrilled to be part of the Canadian Technology Accelerator, where we are joining an impressive list of like-minded Canadian clean technology companies also looking to do business in the US,” says CarbonCure’s CEO and Founder Robert Niven. As part of the CTA, CarbonCure is hoping to develop a stronger national and international network of clean technology thought leaders, and capitalize on a diverse list of mentors. The program will help CarbonCure realize its expansion plans for North America and abroad. “The CTA program provides Canadian small businesses like ours with a key competitive advantage, by helping us quickly expand our network beyond Canadian borders; CarbonCure continues to benefit tremendously from the work of Canada’s trade commissioners,” says Niven.

A recent report by Analytica Advisors describes the Canadian clean technology sector as a major economic driver. The publication reports that clean technology companies are nine times more likely to export than the average Canadian small or medium-sized enterprise. The report also states that the Canadian clean technology sector is currently worth more than $10 billion, with growth potential reaching more than $26 billion in five years. The global clean technology market is valued at $1 trillion today, and will be worth an estimated $3 trillion by 2020.

About CarbonCure Technologies Inc.

CarbonCure Technologies is a clean technology developer deploying CO₂ sequestration solutions to concrete products manufacturers. The Company’s proprietary technology is a unique method of repurposing waste CO₂ to make concrete less carbon-intensive. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Company is commercializing its technology with market leaders in California (Basalite Concrete Products), Ontario (Atlas Block) and Nova Scotia (Shaw Group).

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Wagner, VP Marketing, at jwagner@carboncure.com or 1.902.442.4020.

Many times, inexperienced, often young workers have a strong desire to “fit in” when in the lab or on a job site. This desire to be part of the group will frequently result in new staff members using equipment that they are not properly trained to use. Consequently, they will operate the equipment without the proper safety gear.

I’ve seen this happen on many occasions. One strategy that organizations can use to tackle this issue is to target senior staff members of the team, instead of focusing efforts on new employee safety education. If properly trained, senior staff will lead by example and safe work practices will become ingrained in the organization’s fibers.

Creating a “safety culture” among senior staff members encourages new staff to follow the same safe work practices. It will make new staff more comfortable approaching supervisors with a safety concern, and will encourage them to seek out training on unfamiliar equipment. These improvements are likely to reduce workplace accidents.

A recent study by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) includes an in-depth study of the impacts of a positive safety culture on the workplace environment. The study refers to reports published after several high-profile workplace disasters, including the Chernobyl disaster – from which the trend of ‘safety culture’ originated.

A quote from the 1992 report on the Chernobyl accident by the International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group succinctly describes safety culture in the workplace as the “assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organizations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, [nuclear plant] safety issues receive the attention warranted by their significance”.

An article published in the Construction Safety Magazine outlines statistics on lost-time injuries of new workers in Ontario, and discussed reasons why young workers are at a higher risk of injuring themselves in the workplace. The article reports that young workers are 24% more likely to be injured on the job than individuals in other age groups, but that they are also easier to train than employees who are older. Herein lies the opportunity to prevent injuries of young people, while also instilling safe working practices early on in their careers.

By making safety solutions accessible to older and younger workers alike, we can overcome many of the workplace hazards that are prevalent in modern construction job-sites.

CarbonCure Technologies has a Travel Safe program, which consists of training, personal protective equipment (PPE) and, most importantly, accessibility. The accessible nature of the program is what sets it apart from standard safety programs. CarbonCure’s staff members will often travel to various block and precast manufacturing plants throughout North America. This poses significant opportunities for the employees, but also risks. When traveling to new manufacturing plants, unexpected workplace hazards can arise.

CarbonCure’s Travel Safe program provides traveling staff with a “safety kit”. The kit includes nitrile gloves, safety glasses, ear plugs, a reflective vest and Canadian Standards Association (CSA) approved “TurboToes” shoe covers. All of these items fit into a 36 x 18 cm bag, which allows team members to pack it in their carry-on luggage with ease. The goal of this program is to reduce staff safety risks by eliminating the inconvenience of bringing bulky steel toed boots and other PPE on a plane.

With advances in safety programs and creating a “safety culture” within organizations, companies can greatly reduce their employee’s risk of injury and improve workforce productivity.

Diane Praught is an expert in laboratory safety and is the current Lab Manager at CarbonCure Technologies. 

By Michael Buesing 

When designing with sustainability in mind, architects often focus on a single attribute of a building material, such as recycled content or VOC level. This approach to gauging the environmental impact of materials is certainly influenced by early versions of sustainability certification systems such as early versions of USGBC’s LEED rating system. However, limiting the focus to a single criterion of sustainability distracts us from its larger environmental impact – a  picture that only becomes clear with holistic, integrated analysis of the entire building’s construction materials and systems.

This shift towards a holistic understanding of the environmental impact of materials and building systems is already  underway, thanks to energy modeling and integrated design methodology. Increasingly stringent building codes, along with evolving environmental impact certification systems (LEED V4, 2030 Challenge), will require architects and other professionals in the construction industry to familiarize themselves with all aspects of building materials and systems. This deep understanding is typically gained by completing a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), either for a construction material, a system, or an entire building.  Often in these tests, the largest environmental impact surfaces in unconsidered places.

Concrete is one such place. Concrete almost always plays a role in the design of a building, yet architects rarely give much consideration to its environmental impact. Concrete is a critical component of our built environment –  the architectural equivalent of the air we breathe. We need it, and it’s always there, so we don’t give it much thought  (unless, of course, the concrete is exposed, and then we care how it looks). Additionally, the structural engineer handles structural calculations and design, so aside from cost and design coordination — and perhaps  confirming that fly ash has been thrown into the mix — what’s there to consider?

Architects should be aware that concrete has the largest environmental impact of any material component of a building. This is partly due to the enormous quantity of the material used in roads and infrastructure, foundations, structures, cladding, partitions, even finishes. Concrete also requires a lot of energy to produce. Lastly, the CO₂ emissions released during  concrete production are by far the highest of any construction material.

A few factoids regarding concrete, energy, and sustainability:

• Concrete is responsible for 5%-8% of worldwide CO₂ emissions from all human activities.
• After water, concrete is the most consumed material on earth, at a rate of one cubic meter (1.3 cubic yards or 2.6 tons) per person on earth per year.²
• Production of one ton of cement contributes one ton of CO₂ to the atmosphere (It takes one tree about 100 years to absorb one ton of CO₂).²

The most important impact we can have on the environment is to reduce CO₂ emissions. Concrete is a supremely useful material both structurally and architecturally – there are not any viable replacements available, so concrete is not going anywhere. Fortunately, there seem to be many ways to decrease concrete’s carbon footprint. Across the industry, organizations are investigating how to produce concrete more efficiently, often using Life Cycle Analysis to identify the best way to make improvements. There is much incentive to advance the material’s efficiency – even small changes can have a big impact.

Some examples:

Manufacturing

The reason concrete is so energy intensive is due to the production process of Portland Cement, one of the primary materials in concrete. Cement production involves heating calcium carbonate and other raw materials up to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit in giant rotating kilns (some are 25‘ diameter by 1000’ long, the world’s largest pieces of moving industrial equipment¹, I have got to see one of these!).  Both the fossil fuels required to heat the kiln and the chemical reactions that create cement emit large amounts of CO₂. Developing more efficient kilns and using alternative fuels can reduce the energy used and CO₂ emissions, but the best way to reduce the environmental impact of concrete is to use less cement in the concrete mix.

Research

MITs Concrete Sustainability Hub (affiliated with Portland Cement Association and other industry groups) is analyzing concrete at the nano-scale to discover how to make it denser and therefore stronger. Studies such as these have led to increasingly efficient versions of Ultra High Performance Concrete – stronger concrete means less of the material is necessary in construction.

Construction Materials

Forward-thinking manufacturers of concrete building components use LCA not only to increase efficiency and profits, but, increasingly, to analyze environmental impact.  One example is Taktl, whose formulation of Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is cast into a variety of products such as site furniture or building exterior cladding. I talked to Meredith Flannery, Taktl’s Research and Applications Manager, who is also responsible for their ongoing LCA. According to Meredith, their LCA includes understanding the manufacturing process from raw material (extraction, energy, environmental), to Taktl’s manufacturing facility (energy to manufacture, to service the facility, utilities costs, produce the molds, and managing waste), and then out to project (crating, transportation, etc.). Completing an LCA can lead to unexpected opportunities for improving the process. For instance, Taktl discovered that the material used for the molds had a bigger impact than anticipated. This is something that Taktl can control by figuring out how to use each mold more times, developing thinner molds, or by changing the mold material.

Design

Trends in regulation and sustainability certification (really, it’s about reducing CO₂ to preserve the planet) will require architects to deeply understand the carbon footprint and environmental impact of each material selected. LCA will become an integral part of the design process. As for concrete, Architects and Engineers can design with an understanding of the energy use intensity of the product in mind:

• Get the highest performance out of concrete, including use of alternatives for cement (fly ash, slag, rice husk ash, or others).
• Work with the structural engineer to determine where concrete is needed in a building and the most efficient way to use it.
• Consider the other benefits of using a material most efficiently. For instance, lighter UHPC cladding may result in lighter anchors and an even lighter building structure.

The above only touches on a very complex issue, which will be different for each building design. The BuildingGreen document referenced below provides a much more detailed analysis of concrete and sustainability. Also, the Falling Walls reference links to a good TED-style video about the environmental impacts of concrete and current research.

References

¹ What You Need to Know About Concrete and Green Building
Published by BuildingGreen Inc.

² Breaking the Wall of Concrete Pollution. How Green Concrete Can Reduce the Giant Carbon Footprint of Construction.
http://falling-walls.com/lectures/franz-josef-ulm/

³ Kate Simonen Blog
http://uwarch-belog.com/index.php/2012/03/concrete-footprints/

There are lots of changes happening in the construction products industry this year. With the new version of LEED set to reward projects that use products that have Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), the industry is changing fast. Alongside the changes in LEED, the industry is also adapting to changes in how decision makers access information on building materials. You may have heard about BIM – it stands for Building Information Modeling. Essentially BIM is a computerized representation of a building that contains all of the materials that are required to construct the building. BIM allows for information about the building to be shared with project proponents early on in the project cycle – from conceptual design phase through to design, construction, the use phase, and eventually demolition. BIM objects represent the items that are used to build the building.

A recent article featured in Masonry Magazine lays out how BIM is expected to impact the masonry sector, and a report released this week sets out the plan of attack by the masonry industry to make BIM widespread within the industry: “A Roadmap for Developing and Deploying Building Information Modeling (BIM) for the Masonry Industry”. The report outlines the steps that need to be taken by the masonry industry through 2017.

If you’re a construction product manufacturer, this is important since, according to a recent McGraw Hill publication – “The Business Value of BIM in North America”, 71% of architects, engineers, contractors and owners say that they’re using BIM on their projects. McGraw Hill’s research estimates that by 2014, 75% of architects, 43% of engineers, 55% of contractors and 44% of owners will use BIM on more than 60% of their building projects.

Patrick MacLeamy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HOK, a global architecture and engineering firm that was ranked as the top International Design Firm by Engineering News-Record, says that one of the most important changes that need to take place for BIM is the engagement of product manufacturers. “People who make the products that we put into our building are becoming quite interested in highly filtered searches online that identify the right product for the right use in a model with all the technical details. We’re at the beginnings of that, but it could really take off”.

So how is the masonry industry responding to the increased use of BIM from end users? Masonry Magazine reports that the industry is putting a high priority on developing BIM for masonry, and has outlined the challenges faced by the industry with respect to developing BIM. To date, the masonry industry is falling behind, as masonry products are not often listed in BIM software, whereas other materials such as steel or precast concrete are listed. This translates into lost opportunities to get masonry products incorporated into building projects. If masonry products are at the fingertips of designers using BIM software, the designer will be more inclined to include masonry products in the project.

Luckily, the industry sees the missed opportunities, and is making efforts to ensure BIM objects are available for masonry. According to Masonry Magazine, several organizations including the Mason Contractors Association of America (MCAA), the National Concrete Masonry Association (NCMA), the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), Western States Clay Products Association, the International Masonry Institute (IMI) and The Masonry Society (TMS), have committed to taking the necessary steps to ensure the masonry industry doesn’t get left behind in the design process. The group of organizations has collaborated to develop a roadmap to get masonry products listed on BIM databases. Once manufacturers have developed BIM objects for their products, they can often list them on databases free of charge. The return on investment can actually be quite favourable if the manufacturer can list their products on multiple databases. First movers can also benefit from being the only product in a particular category to have a manufacturer-specific listing on the database. For the masonry industry, any aspect of differentiation should be explored; BIM is simply one of the latest avenues a manufacturer can pursue to gain a competitive edge.

CarbonCure sees the value in developing BIM objects, and has committed to working with its partners to develop them so they can take advantage of the growing trend toward using BIM. However, the industry will need to work together to resolve some of the challenges that may arise, including the “multitude and complexity of masonry types” that the roadmap identifies.

Moving forward, with product environmental information readily available through tools such as BIM and EPDs, the environmental impacts of products can serve as an additional screening criteria when decision makers evaluate products. Cost, performance, durability, aesthetic, and now environmental impacts can all be factors when making decisions about which products to use in a building project. Hopefully with BIM objects and EPDs in hand, more decisions will be in masonry’s favor.

Source: Masonry Magazine, January 2013.

January 30, 2013 – Today, CarbonCure announced several changes that will accelerate the company’s commercial rollout of their clean technology across North America. Kevin Cail, an industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience in the concrete and cement industry in North America, has joined CarbonCure’s team as Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Cail will lead CarbonCure’s research and development activities, as the company commercializes their technology that chemically converts waste carbon dioxide into calcium carbonate in concrete during manufacturing.

Cail’s vision for the concrete sector is clearly well aligned with the Company’s. “I’ve been in the cement and concrete industry a long time, and there’s an inherent need to reduce the industry CO₂ footprint”, says the former Director of Sustainability and Commercial Innovation for Lafarge North America. “CarbonCure’s novel industry approach stands to transform the concrete sector by providing a cost effective method to consume a harmful greenhouse gas, and make better concrete products.” Cail, a Professional Engineer, is also active in codes and standards work and has also served on the board of directors for the Canada Green Building Council and the Strategic Development Council of the American Concrete Institute.

Coinciding with Cail’s arrival, this week also marks the expansion of CarbonCure’s R&D facilities by moving into a larger, more modern, facility in Dartmouth, NS, which will increase the company’s R&D capacity for material and technical testing. The Company also plans to hire additional technical staff, and form new industry and academic partnerships.

“This is an important week for the team; with Kevin leading the team at our new lab space, we’re one step closer to meeting our ultimate goal of collaborating and making carbon negative concrete, which is concrete that actually sequesters more carbon than it emits,” says CarbonCure CEO Robert Niven.

CarbonCure recently signed its first licensing agreement with Ontario-based Atlas Block. Prior to that, the company was funded from consulting revenues, venture capital investment, and government funding, including SDTC, ACOA, and IRAP.

About CarbonCure Technologies Inc.

CarbonCure Technologies is a materials science innovator deploying CO₂ sequestration solutions to concrete products manufacturers. The Company’s proprietary technology is a unique method of repurposing waste CO₂ to make concrete less carbon-intensive. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Company is commercializing its technology with market leaders in California (Basalite Concrete Products), Ontario (Atlas Block) and Nova Scotia (Shaw Group).

For more information please contact:

Jennifer Wagner, VP Marketing at jwagner@carboncure.com or +1.902.442.4020

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn