Sustainability’s Missing Dimension: Time

A Case for Measuring Sustainability in Decades, Not in Moments By Thomas L. Ketron I’ve spent more than 20 years around prefabricated concrete building systems — first on the manufacturing side, now working for the broader industry on sustainability initiatives. In that time, I’ve come to believe sustainability conversations are missing a dimension. Today’s dominant framing measures a structure’s environmental performance at a single moment: embodied carbon of the completed project. It’s an important number, but it’s also the easiest one to calculate, and that has let it stand in for the whole conversation. What’s missing is time — how […]

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Outstanding Precast Concrete Projects Honored with PCI Design Awards

San Francisco’s tallest affordable housing project, a striking addition to the skyline in Detroit, Michigan and a bridge providing a vital link in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are just a few of the compelling precast concrete projects that received 2026 PCI Design Awards, presented by the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute. Now in its 63rd year, the PCI Design Awards recognize the most creative and innovative uses of precast concrete. Panels of engineers, architects and precast concrete producers judge all submittals. The buildings and transportation categories are judged on aesthetic, structural and versatility use; site, energy and operational efficiency and risk reduction; and resiliency, […]

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