NRMCA’s Lionel Lemay has co-authored a book titled Engineering for Sustainable Communities published by the American Society of Civil Engineers in August 2017. Lemay authored the chapter on Mitigating and Adapting to Climate Change. Climate change or global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans resulting from greenhouse gases building up in the atmosphere. Most civil engineering projects contribute to climate change because buildings and infrastructure emit greenhouse gases throughout their useful lives. This chapter provides some guidance for civil engineers to adapt the structures they design to the future impacts of climate change. Some climate change mitigation strategies include minimizing embodied carbon of materials and products, minimizing energy use, utilizing renewable energy, using low-impact development techniques, reducing transport distances by using local materials, using recycled materials in lieu of virgin materials and using ecological engineering solutions. The chapter presents several recommendations for reducing lifecycle emissions of concrete buildings and several references to research completed at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub.
Click here to purchase the book from ASCE. For more information contact Lionel Lemay at Llemay@nrmca.org or 847-918-7101.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association