LEED™ Certification

VCAS™ Pozzolans and LEED™

VCAS™ pozzolans are value-added supplementary cementitious materials that exhibit pozzolonic activity comparable to silica fume and metakaolin when tested in accordance with ASTM C618 and ASTM C1240. VCAS™ Pozzolans react with calcium hydroxide produced during the hydration of Portland cement to form additional cementitious compounds such as calcium silicate and lumino-silicate hydrates. Pozzolans are widely used in cement and concrete technology to increase concrete strength, density, and resistance to chemical attack as well as efflorescence control. The white color of VCAS™ is especially suited to architectural and decorative concrete products.

Earning LEED™ Credits

LEED™ Points and any resulting certification can apply only to a finished building. There are no LEED™ certified products! There are only products that contribute to obtaining LEED certification. The architect working on a LEED™ certified building will be asking all his suppliers to provide products that contribute to his total LEED™ points. It will be up to the supplier to document how their product contributes in a certain LEED™ point category. A case can be made that concrete can contribute in whole or in part to 25 of the maximum 69 LEED™ points in LEED™ NC version 2.2 . However, with architectural precast products, the primary contributors will be recycled content and sourcing within 500 miles. The architect will add up the dollar value of all the recycled content of every component of the building and determine whether the total building meets a 10% (1 point) or 20% (2 points) recycled content threshold. Similarly, if 20% of the value of the building components are sourced within 500 miles, another point is earned. If 50% is within 500 miles, two points are earned. The LEED™ certification standards are evolving and increasing focus will be placed on maximizing LEED™ points attributes in every category possible.

Making concrete greener with VCAS™ Pozzolans

VCAS™ White pozzolans are a by product of reinforcement fiberglass made in a glass furnace. VCAS™ can replace 15-50% of cement powders used in concrete that adds sustainability to architectural precast products.

VCAS™ Pozzolans can:

• Reduce virgin material used in the manufacture of concrete
• Reduce disposal and increase use of a recovered industrial material
• Reduce cementitious material needed to achieve a specified strength
• Improve service life through greater concrete durability
• Increase whiteness/reflectivity of concrete
• Reduce energy by 3.5 million BTUs/ton cement replacement
• Reduce CO₂ emissions by 2000 lbs/ton cement replacement