News Detail

ACI’s Twofold Approach to Sustainability

2/1/2018

During the last ACI Concrete Convention and Exposition in Anaheim, CA, at the 10th anniversary of the ACI Concrete Sustainability Forum, I was asked by the Forum Chair Koji Sakai to highlight ACI’s work in the area of sustainability. Koji has been a longtime proponent of concrete sustainability and instrumental in raising the global awareness of its importance to the industry. First, we should recognize that the topic of sustainability is quite controversial today, to say the least.

Is sustainability about climate change, carbon reduction, or designing and building resilient communities and infrastructure? Has the approach of “green buildings” been successful in curbing energy consumption or was it by itself an isolated initiative, inherently good but not good enough to induce the desired change?

It is difficult to address these questions with clear-cut answers. One might expect that they would remain open for some time, until humanity collectively decides where sustainability belongs on the priority scale.

ACI is not waiting for this to happen. The Institute has already taken several steps to ensure that the global concrete community is empowered with knowledge on sustainability and on the effective tools and practices to achieve it. The Institute has a series of on-demand courses, webinars, and publications addressing sustainability of concrete, and several technical committees have addressed sustainability in their documents.

Still, it is important to be candid when the topic of sustainability is discussed.

Sustainability is not finding its way easily into regulations, codes, or standards. Most building code officials consider that it is already covered by life safety considerations or resilient designs so they do not perceive the greater need for addressing all facets of sustainability in concrete construction.

Let me go back to a discussion I had in Berlin, Germany, several years ago with Professor Dennis Meadows from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dennis co-authored the book The Limits to Growth, which demonstrated through economic models that the world resources were finite and that humanity might reach a period (between 2010 and 2030—in other words, now!) when the world economy can no longer grow.

When I asked Dennis what if these models were wrong, he said the models have been tested many times since 1972 and were totally defendable. So I asked him: What is the way out? What can keep growth going? He finally acknowledged that while all the models were 100% correct, they could not factor “human ingenuity.” No economical or mathematical model can capture or quantify innovation.

At the Strategic Development Council (SDC) meeting last September in Reston, VA, most of the presentations were about carbon reduction and sustainable concrete. From alternative cementitious materials to carbon capture to producing limestone aggregates, the focus was on a greener concrete. It was clear from the presentations and discussions that breakthroughs in sustainability adoption would come from innovation in materials and processes rather than from regulations. Breaking the commercial hindrances associated with sustainability can be achieved through innovation.

This is exactly where ACI has strategically intervened when it substantially increased funding for the ACI Foundation, allowing SDC to accelerate the fostering of innovation and providing increased funding for research.

On a second, albeit more tactical front, there are several important initiatives at ACI. The Materials Chapter of the first ACI Guide on Sustainability will be published in 2018. I seize this opportunity to thank Julie Buffenbarger, the outgoing Chair of ACI Committee 130, Sustainability of Concrete, for her relentless efforts in leading the charge on the first ACI document on concrete sustainability. I am also optimistic that under the leadership of Sean Monkman, the new Committee 130 Chair, we will progress steadfastly toward a comprehensive document by 2019. I was fortunate to work with him on the development of the Concrete Construction Sustainability Assessor Certification Program, and I have seen first hand his sharp and efficient work style.

Additionally, during the last fall convention in Anaheim, ACI launched its first Eco Concrete Competition, with great interest and participation from students from around the world.

ACI will keep working diligently through codes, standards, and guides to integrate sustainability.

Still, the transformational change is more likely to come from human ingenuity, and I’m pleased to report that ACI has stepped up substantially with its support on that front.

Khaled W. Awad