TALLAHASSE, Fla. (July 17, 2024) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that Florida will benefit from two grants totaling approximately $3.5M to support efforts to report and reduce climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials. EPA estimates that the construction of buildings and other built infrastructure accounts for more than 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.
Billions of tons of concrete, asphalt, steel, glass and other construction materials and products are required to build, maintain and operate our country’s buildings and infrastructure. The U.S. leads the world in the production of clean construction materials, and these transformative awards from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act—the largest climate investment in history–will reduce climate pollution by helping businesses measure the carbon emissions associated with extracting, transporting and manufacturing their products.
The grants will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the U.S. government’s sway as the largest purchaser on Earth to catalyze demand for clean construction materials used in federal buildings, highways, and infrastructure projects. The grants will be awarded to businesses, universities and nonprofit organizations serving all 50 states and will help disclose the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing concrete, asphalt, glass, steel, wood and other materials.
- The University of Texas at Austin has been selected to receive $3,268,757 for work in California, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania to develop supply chain emission data sets for three salvage product categories: dimensional lumber, commercial doors and waste plastic. Using these data sets, the University intends to develop robust product category rules (PCRs) for salvaged materials and establish a framework for robust environmental product declarations (EPDs) for salvaged materials. The project also includes an open-source toolkit for computing the environmental impacts of salvaged construction products and materials.
Partnering with Urban Machine, re:3D, Doors Unhinged, The Reuse People and Florida A&M University, this project aims to develop PCRs for salvaged and remanufactured construction materials. The project seeks to quantify the greenhouse gas and air quality impacts associated with remanufacturing processes by conducting a comprehensive uncertainty assessment for materials such as dimensional lumber, commercial doors and 3D printed waste plastic. This data will help create transparent EPDs, enhancing confidence in the environmental benefits of using remanufactured materials over raw/virgin products. This project will contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to support a growing marketplace for sustainable construction materials.
- Ocala-based Global Bamboo Technologies, Inc. (BamCore) has been selected to receive $282,768. BamCore is a U.S.-based building components manufacturer specializing in the use of structural biogenic fibers to help drive decarbonization of the built environment. BamCore’s project will develop an industry-consensus approach for how to dynamically calculate biogenic carbon in EPDs as input into the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment’s (ACLCA’s) PCR Open Standard. As a proof of concept, the project team intends to create prototype PCRs and EPDs that conform to this new standard. The goal of the project is to increase standardization of all EPDs that leverage biogenic materials. The proposed approach will also include a mechanism for fair and accurate comparison of biogenic and non-biogenic materials.
The project will assist businesses in disclosing and verifying data by providing clear, industry-led, consensus-driven guidance on biogenic carbon accounting that will be incorporated into all PCRs and EPDs and align with the ACLCA’s PCR Open Standard. The project will also enhance the accuracy of environmental claims associated with biogenic materials and empower decision makers to make more informed choices, thus spurring market demand for low embodied carbon products.
“As America continues to build more and upgrade our nation’s infrastructure under President Biden’s leadership, cleaner construction materials like concrete and steel are increasingly essential for the nation’s prosperity,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. “These historic investments will expand market access for a new generation of more climate-friendly construction materials, and further grow American jobs that are paving the way to the clean energy economy.”
The grants will help businesses develop robust, high-quality EPDs, which show environmental impacts across the life of a product and can catalyze more sustainable purchasing decisions by allowing buyers to compare. Investments in data and tools will make high-quality EPDs available for 14 material categories, which include both new and salvaged or reused materials. These efforts will help standardize and expand the market for construction products with lower greenhouse gas emissions. They will make it easier for federal, state and local governments and other institutional buyers to ensure the construction projects they fund use more climate-friendly products and materials.
EPA is also announcing expanded technical assistance opportunities to businesses, the federal government and other organizations across America. EPA will initially offer EPD development support and direct businesses to resources to help them measure and reduce the embodied carbon associated with their materials, such as those provided by the ENERGY STAR Industrial program. Federal agencies and their suppliers will be able to compare the climate impact of various materials to drive near-term greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Robust EPD data will be further strengthened by a new label program under development that will identify low carbon construction materials for the growing Buy Clean marketplace.
Together, the grants and technical assistance programs will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support American jobs. These programs are made possible by the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which creates significant investments aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the extraction, transport and manufacturing of construction materials and products. The Inflation Reduction Act also provides more than $2 billion to the General Services Administration to use low embodied carbon materials in the construction and renovation of federal buildings and $2 billion to the Federal Highway Administration to incentivize or reimburse the use of low embodied carbon construction materials in certain transportation projects.
Selections are contingent upon completion of legal and administrative requirements and grantees are tentatively expected to receive their funding in late summer.