For this week’s Guest Post Friday, Musings has the privilege of a post from Kelly McGinnis of the Portland Cement Association. As PCA’s Program Coordinator of Sustainable Development Ms. McGinnis is responsible for several green outreach and education programs for the design and construction community. Additionally, she oversees content development for www.ConcreteThinker.com and its companion sustainably-focused e-newsletter.
Ms. McGinnis is a member of the Chicago Chapter USGBC and serves on its Education and Research Committee. She has more than 6 years experience in the environmental sciences and has a Bachelors degree in Environmental Science and Ecology from Evergreen State College, Olympia, Wash.
Follow the Portland Cement Association on Twitter @concretethinker.
The cement industry is aware of the environmental impacts of cement manufacturing and continues to work toward reducing those impacts. Because of environmental concerns, some dismiss cement products as sustainable building materials. These naysayers, however, are missing the ability of concrete building systems to actually negate the initial impact of cement manufacturing through concrete’s incredible durability and the long-term energy efficiency it provides.
Compare a home built with insulated concrete forms (ICFs) and to the same house built with typical wood frame. The ICF home will use less energy over its life span, including the initial energy used to manufacture the cement and concrete. Less than 0.5% of the total life cycle energy in home construction is due to the embodied energy from the manufacturing of cement and production of concrete. In a typical household, 85% to 95% of the total life cycle energy is due to heating and cooling. The remaining 5% to 15% comes from embodied energy from all incorporated materials, and the resources expended during the initial construction, on going maintenance, and then final demolition of the home. Because of its more efficient performance, about 5 to 7 years, the total energy used to produce and operate an ICF house will become less than the energy used to produce and operate a wood frame house. During a 100 year life span total energy savings translates into at least 220,460 lbs less CO₂ emitted by the cement based product home.
By taking a step back and looking at concrete through its life cycle, like in this example, the impact of the manufacturing of cement is quite small compared to other factors. But that is just the beginning of the tradeoff story. Buildings should be built to last generations. Concrete structures have withstood the tests of time. Concrete doesn’t rust, rot, or burn. It can withstand natural disasters like hurricanes and tornados. When used for buildings and pavements the result is a long-lasting infrastructure that requires minimal maintenance. These many benefits make concrete a practical solution for environmentally responsible design.
Other concrete construction properties play into the equation as well. Concrete is able to absorb radiant heat from the sun and then gradually release that heat during the night. This causes shifts in peak energy load. Additionally, heat transferring through the concrete walls outside is reduced because of concrete’s inherent thermal mass, therefore requiring less energy to heat and cool the inside of the building. In the US about 40% of our CO₂ generated comes from the operation of buildings, mainly the heating and cooling.
Understanding this puts into perspective the real value of applying durable, energy efficient structures and envelopes like is possible with concrete. Consider the design of lighting controls for optimized lighting performance. Significant savings can be achieved. Now imagine a design process where the structural and mechanical engineers work in concert, integrating the structure, envelope and HVAC system; storing energy in the mass, tightening exterior losses and reducing space and loads to support smaller HVAC equipment and ductwork.
The sustainable design community has yet to find a “perfect” building material; everything has good features that are weighed with less than desirable ones. A full life-cycle analysis illustrates the benefits of using optimal amounts of insulation, thermal mass, orientation, and other energy saving features and demonstrates the long-term environmental benefits concrete provides.
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It was really encouraging to know that the cement industry is aware of the environmental concern. I hope their efforts work…
As do I. Thanks for the comment!
Very well said Kelly
Keep up the great work, Kelly! We need many more of these blogs to continue raising awareness. Far too often, sexy, mainstream headlines that scratch the surface at best control public opinion. In this case, CO2 emission stats seem to single handedly formulate that opinion. If people are reluctant to go past mainstream media headlines, blogs like this can give them the rest of the story.
Nice job, Kelly. Very informative, and concise.
I don’t know that many people will disagree with Kelly’s assessment! Concrete is a sustainable material and combine this with quality roof insulation, windows plus efficient heating and cooling and you have a substantially green footprint compared to the sexy materials that are short lived and not necessarily efficient over a long period.
Thank you for your comments. Please check out http://www.cement.org or http://www.concretethinking.com for more information.
Sorry, that Web site is http://www.concretethinker.com
Good afternoon Mr. Hill,
I recently read you forum regarding ICF construction that was written on March 8, 2009. I found the article to be insightful, especially since I work in the ICF industry. The progression of ICF construction has advanced, especially with regards to school construction. About 6 years ago, they build Avaton Elementary School with ICF walls, making it one of the most energy efficient schools in the US at 35 Kbtus/sqft/yr. They followed that about 1 1/2 years later with Plano Elementary School which was even more efficient 27 Kbtus/sqft/yr. Since Plano Elementary, ever school in Kentucky are being built with ICF walls. Now they are building Richardsville Elementary School, which will be one of the first net zero energy schools in the US and with a size of 82,000 sqft. More can be read about this here…
http://www.greenrightnow.com/wabc/2009/06/22/schools-go-net-zero-in-kentucky-and-win-national-award/
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I thought I would e-mail you about this because of my interest in ICF construction, but also because you are an attorney in Richmond, VA (I live in Charlottesville). St. Anne’s Belfield School in Charlottesville is currently building the 1st ICF school in Virginia and is scheduled to open by this Fall (construction of the 105,000 sqft build began in July). My brother is also a partner at Troutman Saunder in Richmond (Robert Angle), so I thought you may find at least some of this of interest.
Let me know what you think.
Ren Angle
Thanks for the Comment Ren
.-= Christopher G. Hill´s last blog post ..Green Building and Jazz- What Could be Better? =-.
In my own research on ICFs I have become particularly interested in how the material can not only be used in single-family homes but in projects of a larger scale – it is exciting to see savings in heating/cooling energy (and $) not only for a living room, say, but for enormous auditoriums or classrooms. Thank you Ren for your link to the Kentucky school winning the award for energy-efficiency – I am glad this manner of construction is not only taking off in Colorado but all over the country. Next stop, Dubai?
.-= Peter´s last blog post ..Forms that Function: Insulating Concrete Forms =-.
Thanks for the comment.
.-= Christopher G. Hill´s last blog post ..Construction Mediation is Exhausting, but Worth It! =-.
Good to know that the cement industry takes the environment into consideration. In this time and age, effects of our actions to the environment does not matter to some. Hope to read more articles like this. Great work Kelly.
No one will doubt the durability and longevity of cement. It is a very good building material, its only shortcoming is the initial production phase is resource intensive. However, some scientists have created an ultra-low carbon cement replacement production technology, that will help reduce carbon emissions. This is one area we can all shift our attention to.
One important factor when choosing the eco-concrete is its durability. No matter how good the material is or how environmentally friendly it is, builders would not choose it if the material is not durable. Though it might save energy from less heating required, most people would consider safety first.