As a leader within the construction industry, JE Dunn’s National Prefabrication & Manufacturing Director, Stacy Scopano, has written a white paper which evaluates how the industry is responding to the increasing attention and emphasis placed on environmental risks and their role in supporting various drivers of Net Zero (decarbonization) initiatives. JE Dunn is using his research to better understand our evolving sustainability landscape and inform any potential considerations for leadership at JE Dunn on the impacts of decarbonization initiatives.

AN OVERVIEW

Demand Drivers – A blend of direct and indirect demand drivers exist and all point to an increasing expectation that construction companies adapt their offering to support the growing attention placed on public and private responses to climate change.

The Goal – Net Zero/Net Positive has seemingly evolved into the common public and private target to align response strategies.

The Scope(s) – A common language is emerging that stems from the Green House Gas (GHG) Protocol of categorizing emission “scopes” as the most frequently used framework to translate the differences/similarities between owners and project team sustainability strategies. This includes clearly identifying efforts that differ between addressing embodied carbon vs. operational carbon. It is clear that any organization that is to be considered a sustainability-prioritizing company moving forward, must adopt this consistent terminology.

Means & Methods – Sustainability methods are formalizing to both account for and optimize projects to align with decarbonization.

Setting Priorities – The current conditions in the market indicate a variety of strategies. However, the concepts behind the above takeaways can potentially serve to quantify the real impacts of taking action, by effectively creating strategies that prioritize a “bang for the buck” approach and address the largest sources of carbon.

CARBON REDUCTION IN THE FIELD

JE Dunn has been utilizing CarbonCure in an effort to reduce emissions on our jobsites. CarbonCure uses a process of injecting carbon dioxide into concrete mix. The carbon dioxide replaces cement and has similar strength-enhancing properties. On a confidential jobsite within the data center industry, we have introduced 30% of the CarbonCure mixture on the paving, mud mats, and sidewalks. This accounts for approximately 30,000 of the 75,000 yards poured to date. We have been adjusting add mixtures to get faster strength results with the ultimate goal of getting to a 75% CarbonCure mixture and to be able to add the mixture into foundations, trestle, piers, and floor slabs. We are able to bring this initiative to other projects while we explore construction-based emissions reduction efforts.

WHAT WE’VE ACCOMPLISHED

• 22,108 yd² of concrete made with CarbonCure
• 29,802 lbs of total CO₂ injected
• 4,512 truckloads delivered with CarbonCure concrete
• 6.8 acres of forest absorbing CO₂ for a year