WASHINGTON—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced $160 million in grants to support the clean manufacture of construction materials. Several of the 38 projects set to receive cash from the initiative under the Inflation Reduction Act involve PU-based materials.
EPA estimates that construction materials account for more than 15 percent of greenhouse gas emissions every year. The grants are designed to help businesses measure the carbon emissions associated with extracting, transporting and manufacturing their products, and will support the Biden-Harris administration’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative.
EPA said the investments in data and tools will make high-quality environmental product declarations available for 14 material categories, which include both new and salvaged or reused materials. These EPDs will indicate the environmental impacts across a product’s lifespan, and will enable buyers to choose more sustainable options.
One of the PU-related grants goes to Atlas Roofing Corporation, based in Georgia and active in 18 states, whose portfolio includes polyiso insulation products. It will use its $734,000 grant to develop detailed lifecycle assessments and verified EPDs.
Another Georgia-based company, Belter Tech, is using waste materials from landfill including PIR foam, as aggregate in cement and concrete production. Its $724,000 grant will look at data to produce EPDs for alternative aggregate 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,” EPA deputy administrator Janet McCabe said.“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.”
