News

January 2009
Workshop "Creating More Sustainable Concrete Pavements" at the TRB, Jan 11, Washington DC
Thomas John Van Dam, Applied Pavement Technology, Inc will present during the workshop. The title of the presentation is "Life-Cycle Analysis: a Powerful Tool in Assessing Sustainability of Concrete Pavements". Tom will be presenting our common vision on the need for a clear language and quantitative framework based on life cycle assessment to help the industry paving the road to sustainable infrastructure. Results from a case study using local recycled aggregate will be presented.
website

December 2008
Speaker at Sustainable Brands International 2008, Dec 9-11, Miami Beach
Miami Beach turns into a place where change makers gather to share their latest learning and ideas about how to create new business value in today's rapidly changing landscape. SBi convenes a dynamic mix of big global brands and innovative start ups. Of product designers, sustainability thought leaders and brand communications experts. We were asked to speak about ways to bullet proof the sustainability branding and marketing message.
website

November 2008
How to answer market questions about your Sustainability?
Many of our clients get questions from commissioners about their environmental and sustainable performance. How do they go about it? How do you answer a question about your carbon footprint or the recycled content of the materials from your supplier? Where do you find FSC certified wood for your product and what will that do for your cost of production? How can you convince commissioners that you can take care of their requests and concerns? We can help you define what sustainability means for your business and baseline your performance. With actual numbers and insight in where the major drivers are you can start to see options for improvement that matter most. Every story is unique, so will be yours. We have helped governments and businesses for more than a decade. Ask us what we can do for you.
 

October 2008
Two-Lift concrete pavement in Kansas, what are the environmental benefits?
On October the 15th and 16th the concrete pavement technology center will organize an on-site seminar on a demonstration project for two-lift concrete pavement on I-70 near Salina. Together with the contractors and representatives from KsDOT we will look into the objectives for KsDOT, construction considerations, project test results and surface characteristics. In collaboration with the APTech, we are asked to perform a screening life cycle assessment (LCA) to showcase the environmental benefits. The idea is to present a framework that can do just that and to highlight the major drivers for the environmental benefits. We will compare a traditional pavement design with the applied two-lift pavement and a third variant where we tried to model an optimized two-lift pavement. Two-lift pavement consists of a high performance top layer and a second layer of concrete where the design criteria can be less strict. This means we can include more local and on-site recycled aggregates with less transportation.
website       presentation 

September 2008
Better protection of river levees with layers of locally sourced and mixed river sludge
Deltares is frontrunner in the development, distribution and application of knowledge for meeting the challenges in the physical planning, design and management of vulnerable deltas, coastal areas and river basins. Deltares stands for the right balance between consultancy and research at both the national and international levels. One of their projects is to find ways to use dredging sludge from rivers on site to reinforce the levees that protect the land next to the rivers from flooding. Two alternative mixes and designs have been tested on lab scale and Deltares is interested in the environmental performance compared to the existing alternatives. We will perform the work in co-operation with an expert panel that will consist out of Dutch civil engineers and governmental water management agencies and we will focus on the CO₂-performance.
website  

August 2008
2008 Summit Recycling Alliance of Texas, speaker on Sustainability & Recycling
18 August, the Woodlands
The Recycling Alliance of Texas mission is to promote and enhance recycling and diversion activities in the State of Texas. Two of their main strategies to work within this mission is by fostering communication and the exchange of information regarding recycling among professionals, organizations, governmental entities, and individuals; and by acting as a clearinghouse of recycling resources. They organize an annual summit. theRightenvironment was asked to present during on of the educational tracks 'Sustainable Connections: Recycling and Sustainability' and my presentation will be titled "Environmental Performance Based on Life Cycle Assessment Approaches". Come out to the great environment that the Woodlands has to offer and enjoy examples from our experiences and hear about our vision.
website        brochure         presentation

July 2008
Panelist for the IDSA 'Digging Deeper' Conference, July 22nd San Francisco
The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) San Francisco Chapter is organizing an conference seeking to equip designers with the questions, methods and actionable tools for designing green. Experts on measuring the environmental, social and business impacts of design decisions will demonstrate appropriate research methods and strategies required for success and ensure a sustainable future. Emerging solutions will be documented in an online toolkit to enable broader knowledge sharing and the development of best practices for Sustainability in Design. Amongst sustainable design experts theRightenvironment is proud to announce that we will be serving on a panel where we will focus on 'how things can be added up in numbers' without trade-offs.
website                brochure           presentation

July 2008
Member of the CP Road Map Concrete Pavement Sustainability Track leadership committee
Government, industry and universities working on concrete pavement share joint research and technology transfer through the National Concrete Pavement Technology Center. This year a new Research and Technology Transfer Committee is founded by the Center and theRightenvironment was invited to become a member. The goal of the committee is to pave the road to guide research and technology transfer for sustainability for concrete pavement with a mid-term outlook of 5-10 year horizon. The objective is to identify sustainable characteristics to achieve more sustainable concrete pavements by meeting economic, environmental and societal needs and desires in design, construction, maintenance, restoration and recycling of concrete pavements.
website       committee site      pod cast

June 2008
LCA-Review for Alex Fraser Group, producer of coarse aggregate from rubble
Modern construction projects demand quality materials, reliable delivery and must demonstrate environmental leadership. To meet these demands construction companies in Australia use services from the Alex Fraser Group. Alex Fraser has dedicated its attention to the salvage, reuse and recycling of a broad range of material. The Centre for Design, part of the RMIT University, assists them in profiling the environmental performance of the concrete recycling facilities using life cycle assessment (LCA). TheRightenvironment has performed a peer-review according to ISO 14044 standards. The current market in Australia for construction and demolition waste is 50% landfill and 50% recycling. The LCA shows a clear environmental potential for producing aggregate from rubble related to an increase in recycling efforts.
Alex Fraser Group         RMIT, Centre for Design

May 2008
TCEQ Environmental Trade Fair and Conference 2008 - Green purchasing and the Product Impact Estimator tool
Mike Lindner of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ, will talk about green purchasing policies and tools that can help TCEQ and other organizations to engage in such an effort. We will focus on one specific tool, the Product Impact Estimator. theRightenvironment will join Mike for an hour session where we will highlight the basis for the estimator: input/output life cycle assessment. The conference will be at the Austin Convention Center, April 29-May 1. The program can be downloaded here. The presentation is scheduled for Thursday May1, 8:30-9:30 AM.
conference website

April 2008
Strategic Advice for Dutch Ministry of Housing on water resilient housing and float homes
The Netherlands is a river delta and has a dense population. Water challenges are getting more and more an opportunity to change the current building practice. We participated in an INTRON study for the SEV to draft a strategic advice to the Ministry of Housing to develop a recognized legal building framework where clarity between all stakeholders can propel the development of water resilient building practices. On April the 23rd the strategic advice was presented to Minister Jaqueline Cramer.  Two of the recommendations are to translate the current building decree into water related interpretations and guidelines and to found a knowledge center where experience can be gathered and disseminated.
strategic advice (in Dutch)     study (in Dutch)

March 2008
Review thesis 'Suburban Stormwater Management, an LCA-approach' University of Vermont
Barton Kirk, who now works for EcoSeeds in Traverse City, MI, graduated at the University of Vermont with a thesis on stormwater management. He evaluated different available systems for stormwater run-off water from a section of impervious pavement. We engaged in a peer review. Both the thesis and results can be downloaded. He concluded that while stormwater treatment effluent quality is generally the most important in evaluating overall environmental performance, inclusion of direct and indirect impacts over the complete life-cycle was useful in distinguishing between stormwater systems with similar treatment performance. The review shows that the study has been performed with great care and commitment. It has the potential to grow into a more general assessment method for a selection of best management practices for stormwater management based on multi-criteria assessment where cost and environment are equally represented.

February 2008
Shell Bitumen's thorough approach on environmental benefits for WAM Foam
Shell Bitumen aims to be the worlds leading force in sustainable paving solutions. One aspect is the reduction or actually improvement of the environment. The Shell WAM Foam technology was developed to obtain paving with hot mixture quality but a reduced environmental footprint. Temperature of the asphalt production and laying using the Shell WAM Foam process is reduced by about 50°C. This renders less consumption of fuels, lowers emissions and improves the working conditions. The lower temperature is achieved by replacing conventional bitumen by two separate bitumen components in the mixing stage: a special soft bitumen and a hard grade in foam form. Such combination enables the product to be successfully mixed at lower temperatures. Shell Bitumen is mapping the environmental impacts of different types of bitumen and Shell WAM Foam applications using LCA-methodology to show the actual savings from a life cycle perspective.
Shell Bitumen WAM Foam website
 

January 2008
Dutch Concrete industry defines ambition to present the 'ConcreteDatabase 4.0'
The Dutch concrete industry organized in the ConcretePlatform (Betonplatform in Dutch) wants to supply users and interested parties with a LCA-based tool that will inform the market about the environmental performance of cement, aggregates, additives, concrete, mortar and prefab applications. The LCA-based tool can and should be used by everybody who wants to perform life cycle assessment based assertions. It will be offered to the Dutch DOT and other users of environmental decision making in design, construct and maintenance. All information will be based on primary data, will comply with national standards and will be peer reviewed. Currently the ambition level for the depth and width is being defined.
 

December 2007
Low temperature Asphalt applications: > 25% savings in energy
Different technologies have emerged over the last 10 years to produce asphalt at low temperatures, being 230 °F in stead of temperatures for hot mix asphalt in excess of 320° F. This lowers the necessary energy requirements during mixing, and consequently lowers emissions during application that reduces risk in working conditions and local formation of smog. SenterNovem promotes sustainable development and innovation, and as part of that, is responsible to guide and monitor progress in different segments of industry to lower the energy use through so-called LTA's; Long Term Agreements. SenterNovem has asked theRightenvironment to assess the life cycle performance of low temperature asphalt varieties as compared to conventional asphalt applications. The results will be used to position low temperature asphalt in the market and convince stakeholders with facts on sustainability.
LTA for the Asphalt Industry website

November 2007
USGBC defines timeframe for LCA credits in LEED-NC
Starting 3 years ago, USGBC is ready to present the methodology framework, tool and guidance to include LCA in LEED-NC in the first half of 2008. The progress report can be downloaded here. theRightenvironment will contribute in the spring of next year in the stakeholder consultation procedure.
Progress report

Visit our news archive

• EUMEPS wants to assert environmental improvements made between 1997 and 2007 October 2007
• Our president a triple winner in the Austin Chronicle Kill-A-Watt challenge September 2007
• UT Sustainability Colloquium on Life Cycle thinking in Sustainable Design 11/07/07 August 2007
• Prenormative building guidelines for water resilient housing August 2007
• Partnership with Sunergie July 2007
• June 22nd: Seminar - The power of LCA - Green Building Program on Life Cycle Assessment June 2007
• Draft ASHREA standard 189 open for comments - LCA is a performance option alternative June 2007
• C-Fix, a new binder with a Carbon potential May 2007
• Healthy products from a healthy building for Presence SouthWest Inc. April 2007
• Royal Ahrend wants to know its environmental footprint to prepare for a strategy on sustainability March 2007
• Virgin Earth Challenge: Who can save the world from global warming? February 2007
• Database for environmental road design receives large update February 2007
• Amendment of the Water Protection Decree based on evaluation of new conservation techniques January 2007
• Proposal reviewer for the USGBC Greenbuild 2007 in Chicago, November 7-9 January 2007
• Find out your CO2-Balance in 15 minutes December 2006
• Peer review of the environmental performance of cladding panels November 2006
• How to promote large-scale water resilient housing? November 2006
• Partnership with PE Americas November 2006
• Inspiring meeting with Pliny Fisk III November 2006
• Office opens in Austin, TX October 2006
• Partnership with INTRON October 2006
• Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for EPS producer September 2006
• Auditor for roofing materials August 2006
 

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