7/11/2008

Concrete and Sustainability 
Santiago, Chile
July 15, 2008
Douglas J. Sordyl, P.E., LEED AP

Overview
• What is Sustainable Development? 
• Driving Forces in the United States
• Concrete and Sustainability
– Benefits of concrete
– Issues with concrete
• ACI’s Role in Sustainable Development 

Sustainable Development
"Treat the earth well:  We do not inherit the 
Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from 
our Children.”  Ancient American Indian Proverb

“Development that meets the needs of the 
present without compromising the ability of 
future generations to meet their own needs.”
Brundtland Report – Oct , 1987

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Sustainable Development 
contains two key concepts:
• meeting the essential needs of the world's 
inhabitants; and

• recognizing the limitations of technology and 
society’s ability to meet present and future 
needs.

Sustainable Development

The most urgent issues today are 
• Conserving Energy 
reducing use of fossil fuels
• Reducing Green House Gases (GHG)
mitigating effects of Global Warming

But sustainable development is more than these

Land

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Water

Atmosphere

Material Resources

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Indoor Environment

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Work

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Family

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Create a balance to satisfy 
the two important needs of society

desired efficient use

standard of of natural
living resources

What is Driving Sustainable 
Development in the USA

• “Green” Rating Systems

• Concern about CO2 and Climate Change 

• Regulatory Requirements

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Driver ‐ “Green” Rating Systems
• BRE Environmental  • Minnesota Sustainable 
Assessment Method Design Guide
• LEED • ASHRAE Green Guide
• Green Globes
Green Globes • Greening Federal 
Greening Federal
• Energy Star Facilities
• NAHB National Green  • High Performance 
Building Standard Building Guidelines‐
New York
• And others…..

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(Leadership in Energy and 
LEED TM Environmental Design)

• “Green” rating systems for 
buildings developed by 
US Green Building Council
US Green Building Council
– Prescriptive System Î
Identifies good practices
– Performance System Î
Life Cycle Assessment

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LEEDTM
• Sustainable Sites
• Water Efficiency
• Energy & Atmosphere
• Materials & Resources
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Innovation and Design Process

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LEEDTM
environmental
stewardship
Attempts to balance the
various aspects of
sustainable development

social
responsibility economic
prosperity

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World Green Building Council
Current Councils Emerging Councils
• Australia • Mexico • Argentina 
• Brazil • New Zealand • Colombia 
• Canada • Taiwan • Poland 
Poland
• Germany • United Arab  • South Africa 
• India Emirates • Vietnam
• Japan • United Kingdom
• United States

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Driver – Concern about CO2

High deposition
ice cores

and

Mauna Loa,
Hawaii
Observatory

Driver – Regulatory Requirements
Reductions in CO2 mandated by
• International bodies
• National governments
• State
Other mandates by
• Regional/Cities

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Driver – Regulatory Requirements
U.N. Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Kyoto • Reduce worldwide GHG emissions to 95% of 
1990 levels by 2012
1990 levels by 2012

Bali • Recognizes that deep cuts in global emissions 
will be required 

Driver – Regulatory Requirements

U.S. Federal Government
• Pending legislation such as
Lieberman‐Warner Climate Security Act (2007)

Many more in process

Driver – Regulatory Requirements

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Driver – Regulatory Requirements
Local building regulations
• 14% of major US cities mandate LEED
• Some mandate use of supplemental 
cementitious materials (SCMs)
ii i l (S )
• Appropriateness
• Availability
• Some ban fly ash with mercury residue

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Concrete and Sustainability
Next to water, concrete is the  most used 
material on earth

Concrete is a useful material to society 

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Benefits of Concrete
• Available • Potentially durable and 
• Regional resistant to 
• Versatile – Wind, hurricane, tornado
– Seismic 
Seismic
• Cost effective
– Blast 
• Low ecological cost
– Fire 
• Superior life cycle  – Flood 
cost (long life) – Rot and termites 

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Considerations ‐ Architect
• Reuse to save resources/cost
– Adapting of frames, floors, walls, slabs
• Daylighting
– Using and adding wall and roof openings 
Ui d ddi ll d f i
• Lower emissions
– Using concrete as a final finish to eliminate carpet 
and adhesives, paint and wall coverings

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Considerations – Civil Engineer
Pervious Concrete

• Controls site storm water

• Flat pavement
• Less underground
drainage
• Improved quality of
discharged water

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Considerations – Civil Engineer
30oC 49oC
Solar Grass Asphalt
Reflectance
39oC
Concrete

Reduce heat island effect

during the day

Reduced lighting needs at night

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Considerations – Mechanical Eng
Mass

Manage heating and

cooling loads (thermal)

Reduce noise
transmissions

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Considerations – Mechanical Eng

Insulating Concrete
Forms

Houses built with ICFs

require up to 44% less
energy to heat and 32%
less energy to cool than
wood frame houses

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Considerations – Electrical Eng 
Daylighting

Reduced lighting
loads

More pleasant
atmosphere

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Considerations ‐ Contractor
• Local labor
• Regional materials
– Energy savings from reduced transportation
• Noise reduction (Self‐Consolidating Concrete)
• Cost savings via reuse/recycling
• Eliminates construction waste by diverting 
materials from a landfill

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Issues with Concrete
• Cement manufacturing
• Material acquisition
• Water usage

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Cement: Primary Source of CO2
& Embodied Energy in Concrete
4% 4%
4%
7%
other

plant operation

aggregate
96%
85% transportation
(batch plant to site)
cement

CO2 embodied energy

Source: PCA, Third Quarter 2006 Survey of Portland Cement by User Group, PCA, November 2006

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Issue – Cement manufacturing
• Creates 3% of worldwide GHG emissions, and 5% 
of CO2 emissions
• Creates 1.5% of U.S. CO2 emissions 

• Compared to 
– heating and cooling homes (21%)
– heating and cooling buildings (18%) 
– driving cars and trucks (33%)
– industrial operations (28%) 

Global Cement Use: 2.3BMT 
(2005)
Japan 59M, 3%
E Europe Can/Mex
101M, 5% 44M, 2%
Other Asia/Pacific
381M. 17%
Latin
America
W. Europe
W 87M
208M, 9% 4%

China
1030M, 46% U.S.
Middle East/ 126M
Africa 6%
212M, 9%
Source: Freedonia Group, “World Cement to 2010” (2006)

Everyday equivalents
Annual cement production  This is approximately 
for use in U.S. results in: equivalent to:

– 110 MMT CO2 – CO2 from 20M cars, 10% of U.S. 

emissions fleet or
fleet, or 
– CO2 from energy for 10.7M U.S. 
households, more than in Texas

– 550 QBTU       – Annual operating energy for 
embodied energy 4.4M U.S. households, roughly 
Ohio

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Issue ‐‐ Aggregates
• Mining
• Quality

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Issue ‐‐ Water
Water usage for 
• Mixing
• Cleaning
• Curing

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What to do?
• Educate owners, architects, government, 
environmentalists that 
concrete is a “means to a sustainable end”

• Improve the carbon footprint of  concrete

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Golden Rule of Sustainability
• To lose weight • To reduce CO2
1. Simply eat less food 1. Use less concrete
2. Use less binder
2. Eat less ice cream material
3. Mix sorbet with the 3. Replace cement with
ice cream supplementary
cementitious materials
(SCMs)

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Concrete and Sustainability
• Use less concrete!
– More efficient structural designs 
– Specify only needed requirements
• Use less cementitious binder
– Specify 56 or 90 day strengths
Specify 56 or 90 day strengths
– Use water‐reducing chemicals
– Optimize aggregate grading
• Use less cement 
– Use more SCMs – flyash, granulated slag, silica fume, 
volcanic ash, and reactive rice‐husk ash

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Concrete and Sustainability
• Current major issue is
– CO2 and Climate Change

• Next major issues will be 
N t j i ill b
– Limited resources (aggregates)
– Water

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ACI’s Sustainability Activities 
• TG‐ Sustainable Development (2000)
• BAC – Sustainable Development (2004)
• ACI Board of Direction policy statement on 
sustainable development 
i bl d l (adopted April 21, 2005)
• ACI Strategic Plan (developed 2007)
• ACI Technical Committee 130 (2008)
• ACI Leadership commitment

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“In all of its programs, the Institute shall:

1) Encourage the development of sustainable 
structures through the application of 
environmentally friendly and sustainable 
concrete design materials and construction;
concrete design, materials, and construction; 
2) Position concrete to compete effectively; and 
3) Raise the level of awareness and seek support 
for increased sustainability inside and outside 
the concrete industry.”

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ACI’s Strategic Plan
Goal #2: Sustainability
ACI will lead efforts that position concrete as 
sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

Approved by the ACI Board of Direction 
April 3, 2008 ‐‐ Los Angeles, CA

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Goal #2:  Objectives
• Expand understanding of the sustainability 
issue among membership. 
• Expand resources to support sustainability 
issues. 
issues
• Increase the content on sustainability in ACI 
documents and products. 
• Improve the perception of concrete relative to 
sustainability. 

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ACI Leadership Commitment
President Luis Garcia
Challenging the Institute and its Board Committees 
(TAC, EAC, CPC, BAC‐SD) to develop a plan of action  
to begin immediate implementation of Goal #2
to begin immediate implementation of Goal #2
1st Vice President Florian Barth
ACI’s role in “Concrete  and Sustainable 
Development” will be the hallmark of his Presidency 
in 2009/2010

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ACI Leadership Commitment
2nd Vice President Richard Stehly
Currently chairs ACI’s BAC‐ Sustainable 
Development and new ACI 130 Technical 
Committee – “Sustainability
Committee  Sustainability of Concrete
of Concrete”
Past President David Darwin 
Participation in 2007/2008 in industry efforts to 
develop a Vision/Roadmap for the North 
American Concrete Industry and Sustainability

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ACI’s Role in Sustainability 

Identify – issues, problems and opportunities

Involve – ACI members and concrete industry

Inform – ACI members, industry and public

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Challenges
• Using concrete in the most sustainable manner
– Best practices for the designer and contractor
• Educating the decision makers 
– Architects, engineers, and owners
A hi i d
• Reducing the carbon footprint of concrete 

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