Links go to the page for that strength category in the Industry Average EPD.

NRMCA is an EPD Program Operator for concrete and constituent materials. All manufacturers’ product-specific EPDs are here: nrmca.org/EPD.

To provide the design community the information to manage environmental and material health impacts, NRMCA has published:

• An Industry Average EPD (IA) that reports the environmental impacts of 72 sample products, available for download here. It includes nine (three normal weight and six lightweight) strength categories. Each category contains eight unique products corresponding to ratios of cement replacement between 0% and >50% by fly ash, slag, or both. A searchable database of participating companies and plants can be found here on the NRMCA website.
• A National and Regional Benchmarks Report (an appendix to the IA LCA Report, not a third-party verified EPD) available for download here. It includes one U.S. national and 8 NRMCA regional benchmark products for all impact categories in an EPD to demonstrate average impacts of each strength category. Each benchmark product has an average amount of cement replacement by supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). Nationally, this is about 14% fly ash and 4% slag cement, but each regional average is different.

Benchmarks are used:

• To specify GWP maximums by strength category
• By producers to measure and optimize performance in the industry
• By green building rating systems like LEED to award credits

Example product HPDs for all strength categories reported in the IA EPD, in collaboration with the Health Product Declaration Collaborative. Members can now develop and publish their own product-specific HPDs using the guidance and example HPDs here: nrmca.org/HPD.

More LEED credit categories

• Responsible sourcing: NRMCA offers a responsible sourcing certification program for members through the Concrete Sustainability Council. nrmca.org/CSC.

• Sourcing of raw materials: Concrete uses considerable recycled content and is typically manufactured withing a 100 mile radius of the construction site.

• Concrete is considered an inherently non-emitting source per LEED 4.1.