Notes
Slide Show
Outline
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Cities: A Reservoir for Concrete Materials
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Construction Sector and Sustainability
  • Globally, the construction sector has a large impact on  Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions.
    • Manufacture of cement releases large amounts of CO2 (1 unit cement => 1 unit CO2).
    • Globally, cement contributes 6%-7% of annual CO2 emissions (Mehta, 1998)


  • Solid Waste: Construction debris is a large component of urban solid waste going to landfills


  • Scarcity Issues: Sources of virgin aggregates are getting further away from cities like Denver, increasing transportation costs and fuel use.
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National: Consumption of Cement
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National Scarcity of Aggregates
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Denver – Sources of Virgin Aggregate Sources
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Some Solutions
  • High Performance Green Concrete
    • Performs as well or better than  Ordinary Portland  Cement (OPC).
    • Is more durable
    • Has lower environmental emissions
    • Is resource efficient by using recycle/waste streams


  • Examples
    • Fly Ash concrete (FA Concrete)
    • Recycled Concrete (rebar and aggregate)
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Enter Partnership 1:
City & County of Denver
  • Denver’s Mayor signs the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement in March 2006, joining more than 290 cities who have pledged to take local action for climate protection.


  • Denver’s goal is to reduce its per capita Greenhouse Gas (GHG)  emissions by 10% from 1990 per capita baselines by the Year 2011


  • Denver partners with the University of Colorado Denver to conduct a state-of-the art GHG inventory that would provide baseline data on which to focus Denver’s Climate Action Plan
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What is New in Denver’s GHG Inventory?
  • City is viewed as a demand center for energy AND key urban materials


  • End-use of energy in all buildings & industries located within Denver is inventoried


  • Transportation energy use by city residents is isolated and inventoried


  • Embodied energy of critical urban materials is included
    • Water, Fuel, Cement in urban concrete, Food/ packaging
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Sectors Contributing to Denver’s GHG Emissions
  • Buildings/Facilities Energy Use (Greens)


  • Transportation Tail Pipe Emissions (Blues)


  • Embodied Energy of Key Urban Materials (Reds)
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National Energy Use by Sector
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Denver’s GHG Inventory Results
Per Capita emissions = 25.5 mtCO2e / person
Buildings/Facilities Energy Use (Greens) = 52%;
Transportation Tail Pipe Emissions (Blues) = 30%;
Embodied Energy of Key Urban Materials (Reds) =18%
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Materials Sector
  • Materials have a significant (18%) impact on Denver’s GHG footprint.


  • Food and packaging wastes contribute 9% to current GHG footprint. Energy recovery from food waste (e.g., restaurant oil waste, biogas) and packaging wastes can avoid some of these emissions.


  • Promoting green fuels such as biodiesel or bioethanol can mitigate another 7% of our current GHG emissions attributed to refining of transportation fuels.


  • Urban concrete alone contributes about 2% to our current GHG emissions, in the same range as all city government operations combined. Green concrete and concrete recycling policies can mitigate these emissions.


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Enter Further Collaborations
  • American Coal Ash Association (Fly Ash)
  • Colorado Ready Mix Concrete Association
  • Cement Industry
  • Concrete Recycler (RMC)
  • Regulatory and Other Agencies
    • City Department of Environmental Health
    • Mayor’s Office for Sustainable Development
    • Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)
    • USEPA Region 8



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Policy Workshop: April 13th, 2006
  • Stakeholders included:
    • City of Denver Mayor’s Office
    • City of Denver Public Works Department
    • City of Denver Department of Environment
    • Colorado Department of Transportation
    • Environmental Protection Agency – Region 8
    • Cement and Ready-Mix Industry
    • Recycled Materials Company
    • American Coal Ash Association


  • The primary goals being:
    • Disseminate material science of incorporating wastestream materials into concrete.
    • Identify and track wastestream material sources using GIS
    • Present analysis methods to quantify environmental benefits and costs of high performing green concrete
    • Identify opportunities and constraints toward developing policy
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Workshop Consensus
  • Recycled and waste stream materials viewed as an important part of sustainable urban concrete
  • Quantifying environmental benefits and costs useful to city policymakers
  • Education of contractors (Residential buildings) seen as important in creating acceptance of high performing green concrete (HPGC)
  • Implications of a HPGC policy needed further study
    • Risk and liability of mandating?
    • Benefits of incentives versus mandates
    • Long term availability of Fly Ash (mercury regulation)
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Quantifying Environmental Benefits with MFA-LCA: Present Time
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Visualizing Future Urban Material Flows using MFA-LCA
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Summary of Scenarios: Per unit 1 ton concrete (14% cement)
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Summary of Scenarios
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Durability and Life-Cycle Cost
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Education Component:
AMCOR Precast Manhole Pilot
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Education Component:
CCD Cast-in-Place Alley-Slab Pilot
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Education Component:
Rocky Mountain Prestress T-Beam
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On-going Durability Testing
  • freeze-thaw ASTM C-666 [2003],
  • rapid chloride ion permeability ASTM C 1543 [2002], and
  • sulfate resistance ASTM C-1012 [2004].
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Ongoing Data Collection

  • Working with Cement Distributors to quantify cement flow in Denver
  • Quantifying long-term concrete demand in Denver


  • Determining long-term material availability of usable Fly Ash (mercury rule)



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Challenges and Rewards
  • Data from private industry sources
    • Coal Ash Association excellent node for facilitating contacts with power industry
    • Recycled Materials Company provided data
    • Concrete mix associations response variable


  • City became aware of beneficial reuse of FA and recycled concrete aggregates
    • A Fly Ash-Recycled Aggregate Policy in Denver could save more than 55,000 mtCO2e per year
    • Significant cost benefits and durability advantage
    • Same as displacing 12,000 cars, each traveling 12,000 miles per year


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Policies to Be Discussed


  • Policy 1: Incorporation of HPGC with a minimum FA content set in the City and County of Denver infrastructure to lower carbon footprint.


  • Policy 2: Recycle all concrete infrastructure for use as aggregates and recycled rebar.  Part of larger C&D City or Statewide initiative.


  • Mandate or Incentives?
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Conclusions on Collaborative Research
  • Environmental Life Cycle assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) are excellent tools to make visible the environmental benefits and costs of reuse of “waste-stream” materials
    • Role of Academia (UCDHSC)


  • Data from Industry is essential in making MFA-LCA analyses realistic to the region
    • Roles of Coal Ash Association, Recycled Materials Company, Concrete Ready Mix Association, etc.


  • Policymakers seeking broader sustainable development goals consider integrated materials and energy use policies
    • Role of City & County of Denver


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Acknowledgements
  • David Goss, American Coal Ash Association


  • Rick Givans, Recycled Materials Company


  • Pat Kennedy, Jim Barwick: City and County of Denver - Public Works


  • Gregg Thomas, Kurt Schlomberg: City & County of Denver - Environmental Health


  • Beth Conover, City of Denver, Mayor’s Office – Sustainable Development Initiative