NPCA’s Sustainability Awards recognizes excellence in sustainable products, practices and operations among NPCA members, highlighting the precast concrete industry’s continuing commitment to sustainability. The 2015 award winners are outlined below.
Producer Category
First Place Project
StructureCast
Project: Wilmington Drain Trash Trapper
Location: Machado Lake, Calif.
The Wilmington Drain is a 150-foot-wide, 1/2-mile-long channelized river that conveys urban runoff and stormwater flows to Machado Lake and ultimately the Los Angeles Harbor. Originally a natural river, most of it is now concrete-lined. The drain is currently managed by Los Angeles County as a flood control channel. The lake and drain have both been identified as impaired water bodies as a result of pollution in stormwater and urban runoff flowing from the lake’s 15,553-acre watershed. As part of a $140 million clean-up project, a precast concrete trash-trapping net and bypass system was designed, casted and installed across the flood control area.
Fresh Creek Technologies designed a system of 11 precast concrete netting trap chambers and two bypass structures and partnered with StructureCast over a four-year period in the development and engineering of the system. Once the project moved into the implementation phase, time was of the essence. Basic submittals were completed in one week, shop drawings were completed in four weeks and delivery of the structures took place just 40 business days after approval of the shop drawings.
Casting the structures on site would have taken more than three months. The precast solution not only saved time, but some serious money. The result? A happy customer, repeat business and, most importantly, a cleaner environment. Win, win, win!
First Place Plant
Anchor Concrete Products
Project: High-Efficiency LED Plant Floor Lighting
Location: Kingston, Ontario
Adequate lighting is essential for safe working conditions in a precast plant. By switching to new, high-efficiency LED lights, Anchor Concrete Products significantly reduced its utility bill while providing employees with a brighter working environment. The LED lights turn on instantly, a drastic improvement over the old, high-pressure sodium lights that took 15 minutes to power up. Additionally, by switching to LED lighting, Anchor was able to participate in a community program offered by a local energy provider aimed at reducing the demand of local utilities.
Before making the switch, Anchor tested the new lighting with employees to gather feedback. One suggestion was to include automatic, area-specific sensors that turn lights on and off according to where workers are on the plant floor. This feature is especially useful in swing shifts, when some areas of the plant are inactive.
Anchor’s LED lighting solution is applicable to the entire precast industry. Any plant can save money and provide improved working conditions by simply making the switch. And because of their exceptionally long life span and low energy consumption, LEDs reduce the load on the local energy grid and lessen impact on the environment, making them a truly sustainable choice.
Producer Project Honorable Mention
Leesburg Concrete Co. Inc.
Project: Mayport Naval Air Station Structures
Leesburg Concrete Co. manufactured a variety of precast concrete products for Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville, Fla., including architectural panels and stair systems. To help achieve the project’s goal of attaining LEED Silver status, Leesburg adhered to sustainable building practices, including reducing waste, sourcing local materials and more.
Producer Plant Honorable Mention
Hanson Pipe & Precast
Project: Building on the Past. Restoring the Balance. Creating the Future.
Hanson Pipe & Precast produced various precast concrete structures to create a 10-acre underwater artificial reef system for a marine environment near Daytona Beach, Fla.
Associate Category
First Place Product
BASF Admixture Systems
Project: BASF EPD Management System
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
As the construction industry continues to pursue sustainable building practices, suppliers are required to quantify the environmental impact of their products. With sustainable construction expected to surpass half of all new construction in the near future, this requirement will become increasingly common.
For precast concrete manufacturers, providing sustainable practices documentation can be daunting. While concrete is considered a sustainable product based on its durability, use of recycled materials and ability to be recycled at the end of its useful life, quantifying the environmental attributes of a concrete solution has been challenging.
BASF Admixture Systems developed a new program to streamline this complex process. The BASF solution incorporates the Environmental Product Declaration as its key component. The EPD has been compared to a nutrition label. However, instead of noting a food product’s nutritional attributes, the EPD denotes the environmental results associated with the life cycle of a product.
The EPD, based on ISO standards, is considered a verifiable means for reporting the environmental performance of a product. The challenge in generating an EPD for a precast concrete producer is the complexity associated with the process. From data acquisition and evaluation to third-party registrations, the time, money and energy expended can be overwhelming.
To simplify the process for the precast producer, BASF has developed a unique EPD Manager Program. The system eliminates the precast manufacturer’s need to complete external evaluations and reduces the overall cost and time required to deliver a verified EPD. The EPD Manager Program delivers a streamlined, cost-effective approach to creating an externally verified EDP to the industry. The application of knowledge, tools and innovations of this type will continue to drive sustainable development in the precast concrete industry.
Associate Product Honorable Mention
Concrete Batch Solutions
Product: Thermal Energy Unit
Concrete Batch Solutions created an energy-efficient “Turbomatic” heating unit that limits energy output while allowing concrete to be manufactured at specified temperatures.
Associate Product Honorable Mention
HELIX Steel
Product: HELIX Micro-Rebar
HELIX Steel’s Micro-Rebar solution serves as a replacement for traditional reinforcing steel in precast concrete products. Among other sustainable benefits, HELIX Micro-Rebar can reduce CO2 emissions and increase product life cycle.
Associate Product Honorable Mention
Hyster Company
Product: Fuel-Saving Big Trucks
Hyster Company’s new Tier 4 Final compliant lift trucks keep sustainability in mind through low emissions output and a variety of other green considerations.
Associate Product Honorable Mention
Mi-Jack Products
Product: RTG Crane + Power on Demand
Mi-Jack Products’ smart crane system senses the power necessary to perform an operation, signaling the engine to automatically deliver optimum power. This results in significant fuel savings and reduced environmental impact.
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