From The Editor
Most of us think of masonry as an ancient material, and rightly so. However, there is a lot of research and innovation going on in the industry from new units to changes in the cement that goes into many masonry products. This edition includes some of the latest news, but the papers and presentations from masonry symposia and conferences are really a great source of information on the latest activities in sustainability and masonry. The Masonry Society provides a searchable database of all past TMS Journals and North American Masonry Conference papers here. The Canada Masonry Design Center hosts all past Canadian Masonry Symposium (CMS) papers here. Watch the CMS website for papers from the 14th CMS later this year. And in 2022 ASTM International will hold a Masonry Symposium: Advancing Masonry Technology. All are great ways to learn more about the latest innovations and research in masonry from sustainability to structural design and more.
Christine "Tina" Subasic, PE, LEED AP
CSubasicPE@gmail.com
NOTE: Inclusion in this newsletter is not an endorsement of the products and materials featured, nor have these products been evaluated by TMS or the editor. Furthermore, the views expressed in the articles featured are those of the article authors.
|
|
GREEN BUILDING NEWS
Tally, a plugin to Revit for building life cycle assessment, is in the news with new distribution and added features focused on carbon accounting. ~Tina
KieranTimberlake Gifts Tally Software to Environmental Non-Profit
ARCHITECTURAL RECORD
Last month architecture firm KieranTimberlake transferred Tally, its software for life cycle assessment (LCA), to Building Transparency—a non-profit whose goal is to enable broad-based and swift action to address the construction industry’s contribution to climate change. With this move, the tool will become free and open access. Tally is a plugin to Revit that allows users to run iterative analyses of material choices and assembly options and compare their environmental impacts, including those that relate to land, air, and water. Read more here.
New tool to help designers choose low-carbon materials
REMI NETWORK
British Columbia's CleanBC Building Innovation Fund will provide a grant that Perkins & Will, C Change Labs and Building Transparency Canada will use to develop an add-on to the current Tally BIM software. The Tally Climate Action Tool will offer real-time information on material performance and Environmental Product Declarations that current BIM platforms lack. Click here to learn more.
Achieving durability with masonry rainscreen walls
THE CONSTRUCTION SPECIFIER
While rainscreens are not new, the materials and systems used for them are continuing to evolve. The July 2021 edition of The Construction Specifier features a cover story on achieving long-term durability with the latest masonry rainscreen wall assemblies.
|
CODES and STANDARDS NEWS
In the past, general building codes did little to address the threat from tornadic winds. That is changing with the proposed ASCE 7-2022 Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and Other Structures which incorporates tornado wind loading for the first time. This is a first-step toward more resilient structures. ~Tina
ASCE maps out wind resilience for tornado threat
NIST
Tornadoes' lower wind speeds account for most of their damage, and new building guidelines proposed by the American Society of Civil Engineers take this into account, using maps created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The first-of-its-kind hazard map reveals wind speeds that different buildings should be designed to withstand, based on their location and size. Learn more.
Updated Green Globes standard opens for public comment
THEGBI.ORG
The fourth comment period on the Green Globes® for New Construction standard has begun. The revised standard includes criteria and practices for resource-efficient, healthy, resilient, and environmentally preferable new construction of commercial buildings. The redline, standard, and public comment form can be found on GBI’s website at www.thegbi.org/ansi.
|
GREEN PRODUCT NEWS
This edition includes news on innovations in products as well as an opinion piece from the Portland Cement Association with thoughts on how to further reduce the carbon footprint of cement. ~Tina
Startup makes recyclable, modular concrete blocks
REUTERS/YOUTUBE
German startup Polycare has developed recyclable and modular polymer concrete blocks made with 90% filler from natural sand and 10% binder. The company says its material is up to five times stronger than ordinary concrete. Learn more here.
Carbicrete touts carbon-negative process
DEZEEN
Carbicrete, a building solution company based in Montreal, is creating carbon-negative concrete masonry units through a process that combines waste slag and captured carbon. "We're taking CO2 out of the system every time we make a block," says CEO Chris Stern, in this article.
Carbon-capture tech demonstrated in Alabama
GASWORLD.COM
CarbonBuilt and the National Carbon Capture Center have finished a multi-week test of carbon utilization and concrete production technology at a facility in Wilsonville, Ala. The technology successfully injected carbon dioxide from the flue gas streams of natural gas- and coal-fired generating units directly into more than 5,000 concrete blocks. Read more.
Study: Prefabricated masonry walls could cut emissions
MDPI (Switzerland)
Researchers in Australia, Sri Lanka and the UK have found prefabricated construction of masonry walling systems could save up to 30% in carbon emissions. They also found reinforced, post-tensioned masonry and thin layered mortars are well-suited for prefabricated masonry systems. Read more here.
Opinion: US must fix regulations on alternative fuels
BLOOMBERG LAW
Michael Ireland, president and CEO of the Portland Cement Association (PCA), says the US needs to update regulations to allow cement manufacturers to take steps toward lowering carbon emissions. Among many things, PCA is calling on officials to allow recovered materials and resources to be recycled as fuel and to specify portland limestone cement as a requirement for infrastructure projects. Read the article.
|
EDUCATIONAL NEWS
Disaster Resilience Symposium
NIST.GOV
The Engineering Laboratory at NIST, Gaithersburg, will be hosting its fourth annual Symposium as a virtual only event on July 20-21, 2021 featuring the Disaster Resilience Grant Research Program recipients. Award recipients will present their research and findings on topics related to Disaster and Failure Studies, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program, Wind Impact Reduction, and Reduced Ignition of Building Components in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires Project. Register here.
Fire Safety and Masonry, September 8 at 1 pm ET
THE MASONRY SOCIETY
Come learn from Kevin Cavanaugh, of Cavanaugh & Associates / Arcosa Lightweight / cfiFOAM about the Balanced Fire Safety Design concept and the crucial role that passive masonry firewalls play in it. Requirements in the building codes will be reviewed along with those in ACI/TMS 216 Code Requirements for Determining Fire Resistance of Concrete and Masonry Construction Assemblies. Click here for additional information on this helpful new webinar and to register.
New Masonry Education Hub
THE MASONRY SOCIETY
The Masonry Society (TMS) has launched the Masonry Education Hub, a Learning Management System that allows designers, professors, students, and other users to obtain on-demand masonry education. The Masonry Education Hub provides a central location for excellent and accessible training sessions on a variety of masonry topics. Currently over 40-course offerings are available for “on-demand” learning including masonry basics, inspection, testing, codes and standards, sustainable design, and strength design of masonry.
|
To Subscribe, click here.
|
Advancing the Knowledge of Masonry
|
Please note: Your email address is from a list solely owned and maintained by The Masonry Society (TMS) for our exclusive email purposes. If you are a TMS Member, participate in a TMS Committee, or have requested TMS mailings, your email is essential to your membership, committee participation (including virtual meeting announcements and ballots), delivery of various TMS e-publications, and meeting/seminar announcements. Unsubscribing through our email sender, Constant Contact, will block all emails from TMS. If you would like to specify what type of emails you would like to receive from TMS, have questions about our email policy, or would like to subscribe to our newsletters, please contact TMS directly at info@masonrysociety.org. To view the TMS Privacy Policy, click here.
|
|
TMS's Sustainability
E-Newsletter Sponsors
Platinum Level
|
Concrete Masonry Association of California & Nevada ***
|
TMS Sustainability
E-Newsletter Sponsors
Click on the links above to learn more about each of these organizations who have graciously sponsored this E-Newsletter. The Sponsors designated with an asterisk (*) are also TMS Members at the following levels:
*** Sustaining Member
** Affiliate Member
* Individual Member
Interested in becoming a Newsletter Sponsor?
Contact TMS for more information on becoming a Sustainability E-Newsletter Sponsor and having your organization's logo appear before thousands of subscribers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|