2013 International Concrete Sustainability Conference Speaker Spotlight

Chris Erickson, CEO of Climate Earth, will present EPDs:  An Inside Look at the Keys to Successful Implementation at the 2013 International Concrete Sustainability Conference, May 6-8, in San Francisco. Erickson’s career spans nearly 25 years in large scale systems and data management and seven years in life cycle analysis. He founded Climate Earth in 2008 to bring automation, scalability, efficiency and a focus on business value to life cycle analysis. 

Climate Earth customers include  Central Concrete, Webcor Builders, PG&E and Del Monte Foods as well as numerous Fortune 100 companies. Erickson is a former Fortune 500 executive and entrepreneur. He has built three successful start-up companies, including growing one into a public company. Erickson holds a BA in economics from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He also serves as chairman of ICEsoft Technologies, a leader in commercial open source software. His presentation is an inside look from the implementer of a concrete company’s EPD. The presentation covers a plain English overview of the standards and methods for developing EPDs. It also covers what you need to know about the standards and the process, and what you should ask and do to have a successful EPD program.

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab Researcher to Discuss Cool Communities. Dev Millstein, a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) Heat Island Group, will present Cool Communities: The Benefit of Cool Pavements in CA Cities at the 2013 International Concrete Sustainability Conference, May 6-8, in San Francisco. LBNL’s Heat Island Group researches the benefits of cool community strategies – cool roofs, cool pavements, urban vegetation – to save energy, reduce urban ambient air temperatures and improve air quality and health. 

Specifically, the group has analyzed potential temperature reductions due to the adoption of cool pavements in Bakersfield, CA. Potential temperature reductions from cool pavement deployment were compared to potential temperature reductions from cool residential and commercial roof deployment. A state of the art meteorological model was used to estimate the temperature reductions expected throughout the year given various levels of cool pavement and roof deployment. In addition to this research, NBNL is beginning a new project to understand the full lifecycle impacts of cool pavements in California cities. The research will be synthesized into a decision tool that cities can use to evaluate where cool pavement adoption is most beneficial.