Build With Strength Supports California’s New Green Code Provisions

In a landmark decision this past fall, California became the first state to codify and incorporate whole building embodied carbon policy into practice, an effort that involved significant participation and feedback from NRMCA Senior Director, Building Innovations, Brandon Wray. Over the course of many months, the embodied carbon provisions were shaped to focus on three main compliance paths of building reuse, whole building life cycle analysis and prescriptive carbon limits for products.

The ready mixed concrete industry is under continuous pressure from designers and officials to develop and produce low carbon concrete, often under strict carbon limits per strength class of concrete. Such specific prescriptive practices can often steer the ship in the wrong direction, Wray said, further noting that the added dynamic of concrete being a local material that varies from market to market can lead to coordination busts when it comes to material procurement and project execution. Through Wray’s pivotal role supporting the California Building Standards Commission, the ready mixed concrete industry’s voice was heard as an additional compliance path was added, allowing for all concrete on a project to be treated as a weighted average, most commonly referred to as a carbon budget by the Build With Strength team.

The new embodied carbon provisions in CALGreen are set to go into effect July 1, leading to a statewide push for education and preparation on aligning with these new requirements that affect nonresidential buildings above 100,000 square feet and schools above 50,000 square feet. To support this effort, Wray and Build With Strength have supported AIA-California and the Structural Engineers Association of California (SEAOC) in a series of webinars to discuss the upcoming changes. There’s no doubt that CALGreen’s influence on the U.S. green building industry will be profound as the holistic approach to carbon and sustainability will guide designers and government toward a path that considers the entire lifecycle of a structure, Wray said.

For questions regarding CALGreen and NRMCA’s participation, contact Brandon Wray at bwray@nrmca.org.