Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

To encourage adaptive reuse and optimize the environmental performance of products and materials.

Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

Concrete Masonry Units (CMU) are an excellent choice when designing with sustainability in mind. CMU are manufactured using natural, locally sourced materials and are durable enough to last a lifetime. There are two primary areas in which CMU excels when considering building life-cycle impact reduction: building material reuse and whole building life-cycle assessment.

Building Material Reuse

Concrete masonry is exceptionally durable and its life-cycle considerably longer than many other building envelope systems. This allows the opportunity to refurbish an existing building for other uses while maintaining the original concrete masonry shell.

Because CMU is made from simple natural materials like rock and sand, the manufacturing process lends itself to the use of recycled materials providing another opportunity for reuse.

At the end of their service life, concrete masonry and interlocking pavements can be completely recycled, eliminating the need to be disposed of at landfills.

Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment

CMU performs very well when evaluating cradle to grave impact. CMU is produced using locally sourced materials, is extremely durable and long-lasting, and even offsets the carbon footprint of its manufacturing process over the course of its life-cycle via carbon sequestration. See Carbon Uptake of Concrete Masonry for more details on the carbon sequestration of CMU.

Angelus CMU contributes to demonstrating significant reductions in both GWP and additional impact categories. For more information, see CarbonKind™ — Low Carbon CMU.

NDv4 and SITES: ICP and PICP are high-strength concrete units high in durability and can be lifted and reset to accommodate revised site plans.