NRMCA Introduces System Level EPD Program To Help Concrete Producers’ Green Building Efforts

The new program meets strict international standards for EPD verification, but streamlines the process to verify EPDs more efficiently.

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The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (NRMCA) has introduced a new system level Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) verification program to help its members meet new product transparency credits in LEED v4 and other green building standards. The new program meets strict international standards for EPD verification, but streamlines the process to verify EPDs more efficiently. Rather than verify a fixed set of product specific EPDs, the program verifies the software program used to generate environmental impacts of a specific concrete product (mix). This enables a producer to generate new product specific EPDs as needed for each project. NRMCA introduced the program in recognition of growing demand and increasing emphasis on corporate and product transparency in the green building marketplace.

NRMCA member Martin Marietta is the first concrete producer to verify EPDs using the new system level EPD verification procedure. It used an enterprise software tool developed by Climate Earth to generate EPDs that cover 50 concrete mixes produced at six plants in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. The software and underlying life cycle data for each plant was reviewed and verified by Sustainable Solutions Corporation, a verifier in NRMCA’s EPD program. From this point forward, Martin Marietta can generate EPDs on-demand from each of its six plants using the Climate Earth tool. The verification process and background data is checked periodically to ensure consistency and accuracy.

Implementing a system verification program for EPDs once again demonstrates that the ready mixed concrete industry is a leader in the transparency movement. NRMCA was one of the first industry groups to launch an EPD program in the U.S.; one of the first to generate an industry-wide EPD and now is one of the first to develop a system level EPD verification procedure.

“Concrete producers lead the way with over 2,400 products verified in NRMCA’s EPD program,” says NRMCA President, Robert Garbini. “We’re proud to be able to offer this new system verification program, making the process of developing EPDs more efficient for our members.”

For more information about EPDs and the NRMCA EPD program, visit www.nrmca.org/sustainability/EPDProgram or contact James Bogdan, QEP, LEED-AP, senior director, sustainability initiatives, at [email protected] or at (412) 420-4138.

 

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