| Announcing ECO CERTIFIED Concrete Facility Program | | May 23, 2008 | 
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The RMCAO Sustainable Development and Environment Committee (SDE) is working on behalf of RMCAO members to address the issues of Sustainable Development as the construction industry is seeing an increasing number of specifications that refer to Sustainable Development, LEED or Green Building.
At the same time, the Strategic Development Council (a division of ACI) is developing a Vision and Road Map for the concrete industry sectors across Canada and the US (RMCAO is on the Steering Committee). Its mandate is to raise awareness of all SD issues and to gain acceptance that the concrete sectors must recognize that we must develop and practice protocols, operations and technologies that are in tune with this movement.
The most widely accepted Sustainable or Green specification reference in Canada seems to be LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. There are six LEED categories:
1. Sustainable sites
2. Water efficiency
3. Energy and atmosphere
4. Materials and resources
5. Indoor environmental quality
6. Innovation and design process
Different LEED versions have varied scoring systems based on a set of required "prerequisites" and a variety of "credits" in the six major categories listed above. In LEED v2.2 for new construction and major renovations for commercial buildings there are 69 possible points and buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:
Certified: 26-32 points (non-innovation points)
Silver: 33-38 points
Gold: 39-51 points
Platinum: 52-69 points
To position concrete as a building product of choice and to address and highlight Sustainable issues in concrete operations and management practices, the SDE Committee has developed a new ECO CERTIFIED Concrete Facility program. This is a voluntary certification program and will address current environmental requirements such as CofA for Air, Noise, Sewage Works and Permits To Take Water.
The ECO certification program is designed to highlight many practices that the concrete facility already manages, identifying practices and methodologies that concrete facilities have regarding the use of SCM’s, energy conservation, emissions control, water conservation and recycling and more. The program will also assist companies with information on other practices and protocols which will assist the everyday business and bottom lines.
Similar to LEED, the ECO CERTIFIED program has five categories with seven sections and a concrete facility would have to obtain minimum number of points in each section and comply with the described regulatory items identified.
Sustainable Sites
Water Efficiency
Materials and Resources (2)
Energy and Atmosphere (2)
Innovation and Design
As buildings and structures go green to whatever the final reference, we must position concrete as the solution. Every attribute of concrete can be tied back to a Sustainable benefit and Owners will soon begin to practice Responsible Materials Purchasing. The RMCAO ECO CERTIFIED Concrete Facility program will assist the Owner in choosing concrete as the solution.
If there are any questions please contact the RMCAO.
John McCabe
RMCAO SDE Chair
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