Sources: Portland Cement Association, Skokie, Ill.; Ready Mixed Concrete Research & Education Foundation
With representatives on hand of both its industry collaborators--PCA and RMC Research & Education FoundationÛat the first gathering of its kind since the research center was established in late-2009, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSH) hosted a World of Concrete 2010 event, highlighting early test results from its two initial research projects.
PCA Chairman and GCC of America President & CEO Enrique Escalante introduced MIT's Dr. Roland Pellenq, director of research for the French government research agency and visiting professor at MIT's Civil and Environmental Engineering department, as well as CSH cofounder. Pellenq provided a detailed overview of the first two CSH projects: The Edge of Concrete: A Life-Cycle Investigation of Concrete and Concrete Structures and Green Concrete Science. CSH research initially will target three focus areas: concrete materials science, building technology, and the econometrics of sustainable development.
Established with the goal of accelerating emerging breakthroughs in concrete science and engineering and transferring that science into practice, CSH will provide $10 million of sponsored research funding during the next five years, with each supporting organization committing $1 million annually for the next five years. RMC Research and PCA leaders view CSH projectsÌ potential for easing industry compliance with any regulatory changes that would be required by the Environmental Protection Agency, which recently announced that it is moving to enact rules to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and large industrial manufacturers. If enacted, these rules would likely impose regulations on all 118 U.S. cement plants.