City seeking answers from suppliers in move toward low-carbon concrete, landscaping

A handful of city departments are in the research and market studying phase for two environmental initiatives passed by City Council earlier this year, which could lead to substantial changes in how construction projects are planned and budgeted.

A memo released last week from chief sustainability officer Zach Baumer provides an update to Council’s direction to require landscaping contractors working on city property use zero-emissions equipment. The memo also details some of the research and lines of inquiry that staff in the Capital Delivery Services and other departments are exploring in pursuit of using low-carbon concrete for the city’s construction projects.

The Office of Sustainability is working to establish a pilot program that would adjust new contract offers for landscaping services, with a preference given to vendors using electrified equipment, with other environmental considerations possible.

Baumer told the Austin Monitor that city staff members are reviewing the next round of third-party vendor contracts for landscaping that can be updated with the new language as a way to gauge private companies’ ability to go green.

He said staff from the Parks and Recreation Department have already shared their expectation that the contracts could cost more because of the difference in performance for battery-powered equipment.

“With gas, the equipment can run all day long. We know with electric equipment, that’s not the case. Even the best battery is only going to work for an hour, maybe two hours, so they’re going to have to have backup batteries. You’re going to have to have a truck that charges the batteries,” he said. “They’re going to have to stop and take breaks and switch the batteries. We know that there are going to be changes involved in this, but we’re not 100 percent sure how big of a change it is.”

On the prospects for low-carbon concrete, Baumer said staffers from other city departments are working with concrete suppliers who are innovating toward greener production to get definitive environmental product declarations that can provide some certainty about the life cycle and usability of a newer green product. With the concrete industry changing quickly as demand for low- and no-carbon materials grows, Baumer said the city is searching for as much solid information as possible before moving ahead with any purchasing of candidate materials.

The guiding document on the city’s move toward green concrete is the Plan to Transition to Low-Embodied Carbon Concrete in Pursuit of a Carbon Neutral Austin.

Council Member Ryan Alter, who helped sponsor the February resolution, said the pace of change in the concrete industry means there are many questions that he and other municipal leaders are trying to answer as the need for environmentally friendly products grows.

“I’ve had numerous conversations about low-carbon concrete with different individuals, both within the city and outside the city. And some people will tell you it’s ready to go today. You can go buy it. Then some people say it’s more expensive. Some people say it’s the same price. Then you’ll talk to other people and say it doesn’t really exist,” he said. “Given that lack of clarity, I do understand the desire to just create a definitive answer of, can we do this and how much does it cost?”

As those questions are gradually answered and Austin collaborates with other cities interested in green concrete, Alter said the city should try to identify planned construction projects that could be delayed until an appropriate green supplier is found.

Alter, who has pushed consistently for a bond package to fund environmentally friendly infrastructure, said some of the delayed projects’ funding could be covered with bond funds.

“I think we have to look at all of our projects and decide not only their level of priority, but also what environmental impact we’re willing to sustain from those projects. And so we do have some stuff that is a high priority coming down the line, but I also think that those are opportunities to also integrate this,” he said. “If we need to hit pause on some future stuff, then I’m open to that. As we look to this next bond cycle, a fundamental question will be if you’re proposing a mobility project, tell me right here in the planning stage, can we utilize environmentally sustainable practices, including low-carbon concrete? And if not, we’ll have that answer on the front end to decide whether or not this a project we want to move forward with.”

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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