LEARNING CENTER 2024 ON-DEMAND
Concrete Innovations Learning Center On-demand provides recordings and downloads for previously aired Learning Sessions on the latest innovations for sustainable concrete design, construction and manufacturing. Select a year for on-demand learning sessions:
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Each session of the Concrete Innovations Learning Center offers AIA Continuing Education and Professional Development Hours. Complete the form provided for each session to receive credits.
SESSION 19: APRIL 17, 2024
ARCHITECTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainable Concrete in the Building Industry: Opportunities and Challenges
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
DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION (coming soon)
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.