LEARNING CENTER
Bring practitioners, researchers and policy makers together to exchange the latest innovations for sustainable concrete design, construction and manufacturing. View schedule.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Each session offers AIA Continuing Education and Professional Development Hours. Complete the form provided for each session to receive credits.
AWARD PROGRAM
Recognizes outstanding achievements in concrete performance and sustainability. See award winners.
SCHEDULE FOR UPCOMING SESSIONS
Tentative schedule. All time are shown in U.S. eastern time zone.
2024
CONCRETE INNOVATIONS AWARDS
The NRMCA Concrete Innovations Award Program recognizes outstanding achievement in concrete design and construction. Innovative projects that demonstrate outstanding achievements in performance while lowering environmental impacts including embodied and operational carbon footprint are awarded. Award winners were announced on March 12 and will be presented at Concrete Innovations Session 19. Register here. Winners will be presented with their awards at several NRMCA events throughout 2024.
APR 17
11:00-13:00
SESSION 19 - ARCHITECTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
CONTINUING EDUCATION FORM (available April 17, 1 pm eastern)
Architecture and Sustainability
Chris Flint Chatto, Principal, ZGF Architects LLP
Chris Chatto is a sustainability expert who found his way to architecture after a decade of work in environmental activism. As one of ZGF’s resident sustainable design experts, Chris develops simple, yet powerful tools to analyze data and understand how a project will impact and respond to the natural environment. This presentation demonstrates how ZGF used those tools along with collaborative approaches to sustainable design to ensure meaningful impact reductions, including embodied carbon of concrete.
Proactive CO2 reduction with TiO2-based surface treatments: Overview of methods, initial results & future perspectives in pavement applications
Mirian Velay-Lizancos, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Purdue University
It is known that TiO2 is a photocatalyst that can be used in construction materials applications as it provides them with photocatalytic properties, such as NOx removal. In addition to this property, our recent studies have shown the potential to increase the CO2 capture abilities of construction materials by adding nano-TiO2 into cementitious materials as part of the mix. These studies showed that these additions promoted the CO2 uptake to a certain level, depending on the samples' w/c and age, through carbonation acceleration, reducing the material's environmental footprint. However, the cost of nano-TiO2 and the potential increase in risk of corrosion if used in steel-reinforced concrete may reduce its applicability in the short term. Thus, our new study assesses the potential use of a TiO2-based surface treatment and its effect on CO2 concentrations and carbonation. These treatments present a cost-effective way to deliver TiO2 to pavements. However, their effect on the pavements differs from the effects of adding TiO2 into the mix since a surface treatment applied after the pavement has hardened will not modify the hydration process. Thus, we developed a new technique to assess the potential proactive effects of the surface treatment over the pavement's service life. Results showed that samples with the surface treatment reduced the concentration of CO2 to a greater extent than untreated samples. Furthermore, results also showed that, in this case, the reduction of CO2 concentration is not related to an increase in carbonation depth. Treated samples also showed self-cleaning ability. Thus, these treatments present a cost-effective way to deliver TiO2 to pavements, providing them with a long-lasting CO2 reduction ability.
Product Spotlight - Euclid Chemical
Decorative Concrete Innovations in Sustainability
Rich Cofoid, Sr. Marketing and Product Line Manager, Euclid Chemical
As sustainability and reduction in carbon emissions continue to drive innovations in concrete mix designs and construction, the decorative side of our business has not been left behind. In this presentation we will discuss some of the trends and evolutions in decorative concrete systems that combine aesthetics and sustainability.
2024 Concrete Innovations Award Winners
Lionel Lemay, PE, SE, LEED AP, Executive Vice President, Structures and Sustainability, NRMCA
The NRMCA Concrete Innovations Award Program recognizes outstanding achievement in concrete design and construction. Innovative projects that demonstrate outstanding achievements in performance while lowering environmental impacts including embodied and operational carbon footprint are awarded. This presentation will highlight the nominees and winners of the 2024 Concrete Innovations Awards.
MAY 15
11:00-13:00
SESSION 20 - THE IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION
De-Risking Lower-Carbon Concrete – The importance of innovation and the value proposition of leadership
Don Davies, Co-founder, Davies-Crooks Associates
Sara Neff, Head of Sustainability, Lendlease Americas
James Murray-Coleman, Director of Sustainability, Trammel Crow Company
Trammell Crow and Lendlease are industry leading developers, each with portfolios in the billions of dollars. They are placing a high value on future lower-carbon construction, and are championing a series of lower-carbon concrete pilot studies across the country. What is driving their decisions to innovate? What do they need from industry to support their goals? Moderated by Don Davies of Davies-Crooks Associates, a structural engineering veteran and leader of the Lower-Carbon Concrete Task Force, this panel will explore the motivations, risks, and value these efforts look to achieve.
Product Spotlight - AICrete
The Future of the Concrete Industry Using AI-Driven Solutions
Dr. Parham Aghdasi, Founder and CEO, AICRETE
This session will provide insights into the future of the concrete industry and how AICrete is leading the charge with AI-driven solutions. The presentation will dive into the heart of innovation with the newest features of AICreteOS. Attendees will experience first hand how this transformative operating system is reshaping the concrete production landscape, optimizing workflows, enhancing quality control, and revolutionizing every aspect of production. The session will highlight how strategic partnerships and integrations further amplify the power of AICreteOS and how collaborative efforts are driving innovation and delivering unparalleled value to the concrete industry.
Product Spotlight - Master Builders Solutions
Concrete Strength and Sustainability Redefined
Tyler Grissom, Product Manager, Master Builders Solution
Nanoscale particulate-based admixture technologies are leading the way in concrete innovation. They effectively tackle the obstacles presented by supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) and Type IL cements, paving the way for the creation of cost-effective and environmentally sustainable concrete mixtures with lower cement content.
JUN 19
11:00-13:00
SESSION 21- DECARBONIZATION STRATEGIES
Less Clinker in Cement, Less Cement in Concrete: A Two‐fold Strategy Towards Decarbonization
Franco Zunino, Physical Chemistry of Building Materials, Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Concrete is by a substantial margin the most widely used construction material. Projections indicate that the demand for concrete it will continue to increase to sustain the development of emerging economies. This paper presents a new perspective of low‐carbon concrete by refocusing on the actual final product, highlighting the tremendous CO2 saving opportunities of reducing the total paste volume of concrete while simultaneously using high performance, low‐clinker cements in the so‐called two‐fold strategy (low clinker content, low paste volume concrete formulations). Different aspects of low paste volume concrete formulations are discussed based on a combination of published and new concrete performance data, showing the potential for CO2 savings of the strategy and the technical opportunities to retain the robustness and reliability that make concrete such a versatile and widely used material. Chemical admixtures play a crucial role in reaching those objectives, as they enable to reduce the cement content while retaining the needed workability (slump and slump retention) for each application. The key issues relating to using those admixtures in low carbon concrete are highlighted.
Product Spotlight - Chryso/GCP
Innovations in Low-carbon Cement Additives and Concrete Admixtures
David Colby, Sales Director – Cement Products, CHRYSO & GCP
Terry Harris, Senior Director Technical Services & Ductilcrete Slab Systems, CHRYSO & GCP
Portland limestone cement (PLC) and new blended cements using pozzolanic materials (fly ash, natural pozzolan and calcined clay (CC)), as well as ternary binders based on several supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs), are promising alternatives to conventional Portland cement. These options hold great potential for reducing the carbon footprint of concrete. Chryso has developed a new generation of cement and concrete strength enhancers that improve the viability and performance of PLC and blended cements in North America. These additives help overcome some of the challenges associated with these alternative cements, such as increased water demand, reduced strengths, and pack set issues.
Biochar-Cement Concrete: The Path to Carbon Neutrality and Strength Parity
Lori Tunstall, Assistant Professor, Colorado School of Mines
In the last decade, biochar has emerged as a promising partial cement replacement to significantly reduce the carbon footprint associated with concrete. This is because biochar is a carbon negative material, sequestering more than twice its weight in CO2. The more cement that can be replaced with biochar, the lower embodied carbon the concrete will have; however, most researchers have found that replacing the cement with more than 5 wt% of biochar results in decreased strength, which limits the environmental benefit. In contrast, through a study of 22 distinct biochars, we have found that up to 44 wt% of the cement can be replaced with biochar, resulting in comparable or improved mortar strength and the potential to completely offset the carbon footprint of the cement. Using advanced data processing techniques, we identify three key biochar characteristics that control strength development of biochar-cement mortars: available water sorption capacity, oxygen-to-carbon ratio, and soluble silicon.
AUG 21
11:00-13:00
SESSION 23
Technical Session TBD
Product Spotlight - Master Builders Solutions
Optimize Portland Limestone Cement Success with Admixtures
Product Spotlight - Concrete Sustainability Council
Low-Carbon Construction with CSC Certified Concrete
Christian Artelt, Heidelberg Materials and Michael Scharpf, Holcim
Concrete carrying the Concrete Sustainability Council’s “CSC”-certification label provides assurance that its production meets stringent environmental, social, management and economic sustainability criteria. CSC-certified concrete supports responsible sourcing of materials, efficient use of resources, recognizes the use of recycled materials and supports the reduction of carbon emissions. Choosing CSC-certified concrete demonstrates a leading commitment to sustainable construction practices and contributes to the development of environmentally friendly buildings and infrastructure.
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