A properly designed pervious concrete pavement system can reduce the environmental impact often associated with development. This overview discusses the hydrologic design of pervious concrete, both passive and active mitigation systems and the important consideration in design for storms. The article includes a link to a publication on pervious paving design as well.

Available for $80 Definitive reference on concrete technology covers fundamentals and detailed information on freshly mixed and hardened concrete. Extensively updated and expanded, this new edition discusses materials for concrete, such as portland cements, supplementary cementing materials, aggregates, admixtures and fibers; air entrainment; procedures for mix proportioning, batching, mixing, transporting, handling, placing, consolidating, finishing, and curing concrete; precautions necessary during hot- and cold-weather concreting; causes and methods of controlling volume changes; commonly used control tests for quality concrete; special types of concrete, such as high-performance, lightweight, heavyweight, no-slump, roller-compacted, shotcrete, mass concrete and many more. Applicable ASTM, AASHTO, and ACI standards are referred to extensively.

Available for free. This investigation has compared the lighting performance of concrete and asphalt surfaces of parking lots. The resulting amount of energy saved for a typical parking lot lighting system was attained for equivalent average surface luminances. Equivalent average surfaces were compared in two ways: by modifying lamp power and by reducing the number of lighting poles.

Available for free. Life cycle cost analysis is currently a valuable tool in the construction industry and will become more so as resources become more scarce. Selecting the materials and components of structures and pavements based on a life cycle cost analysis can significantly decrease the lifetime cost of construction, maintenance and repair. This literature survey gathers life cycle cost information for concrete and competing materials from a variety of sources, summarizes the results, and describes the resulting searchable database. The database is a resourceful tool for those who would like to obtain additional information on life cycle cost analysis and results. The searchable life cycle cost database with abstracts, in Filemaker Pro® format, is available to Portland Cement Association (PCA) member companies, PCA staff, and cement promotion groups.

A Powerpoint presentation by Kevin McMullen of the Wisconsin Concrete Paving Association that looks at the environmental factors impacting the pavement selection process. Contact rjolly@pavement.com for a free copy.

A web resource for general information on concrete homes.

Contact the American Concrete Paving Association at rjolly@pavement.com for a copy of a Powerpoint presentation that investigates the case for concrete pavements and the role that pavements play in mitigating urban heat islands, energy cost savings and long term performance.

With more attention than ever being focused on energy conservation, vehicle fuel efficiency, and new alternatives such as hybrid cars and bio-diesel, few people realize the significance of road-type on energy use.

The National Center of Excellence on SMART Materials is a joint U.S. EPA - Arizona State University partnership formed to bring together researchers of various disciplines in developing the next generation of urban materials to reduce the dependence on non-renewable energy and adverse impacts to the urban climate. The National Center of Excellence will be the leading national research and outreach laboratory in supporting regional governments and industry in meeting the needs of rapid urbanization and infrastructure.

Industry resource for ready mixed concrete.

This pocket-size DVD includes a 6-minute video on the benefits and sustainable aspects of using full-depth reclamation (FDR) to rehabilitate deteriorated asphalt pavements. It features construction scenes from a project in Dallas and includes several testimonials highlighting the many sustainable aspects of FDR. Windows format only.

This link takes you to the environmental benefits section of ConcreteParking.org, where you can learn about the range of technology to reduce storm water problems and urban heat island effects.

Pervious concrete pavement systems (PCPS) are a unique and effective means to address important environmental issues and support green, sustainable growth, by capturing stormwater and allowing it to infiltrate into the underlying soil. Sedimentation leading to clogging is a potential problem in serviceability of PCPS.

This report presents the results of solar reflectance testing on 135 concrete specimens from 45 concrete mixes, representing a broad range of concretes. This testing determined which combinations of concrete constituents meet the solar reflectance index requirements in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (LEED-NC) Sustainable Sites credit for reducing the heat island effect. All concretes in this study had average solar reflectances of at least 0.30 (corresponding to an SRI of at least 29), and therefore meet the requirements of LEED-NC SS 7.1. These concretes also meet the requirements for steep-sloped roofs in LEED-NC SS 7.2. The lowest solar reflectances were from concretes composed of dark gray fly ash. The solar reflectance of the cement had more effect on the solar reflectance of the concrete than any other constituent material. The solar reflectance of the supplementary cementitious material had the second greatest effect.