US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS • ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER • 17 FEB 2022 • UNCLASSIFIED • 1

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Reducing

Lifecycle GHG

Emissions of

Construction 

Materials

Robert D. Moser, PhD

Senior Scientific Technical Manager – Materials and Structures

Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory

US Army Engineer Research and Development Center

US Army Corps of Engineers

8 June 2022
US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS • ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER • 17 FEB 2022 • UNCLASSIFIED • 2

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USACE Mission Areas
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Mitigate and 

Adapt to 

Climate Change

1

Win

Future Wars

2

Modernize 

our Nation’s 

Infrastructure

3

Enable Smart 

and Resilient

Installations

4 5

Support 

Resilient

Communities

Ensure 

Environmental

Sustainability

and Resilience

6

9

Improve Cyber 

and Physical 

Security

Revolutionize 

and Accelerate 

Decision Making

8

Protect and 

Defend the 

Arctic

10

ADDRESSING THE NATION’S TOUGHEST CHALLENGES WITH MULTI-DISCIPLINARY SOLUTIONS

Top 10 USACE R&D Priorities

APPROVED

USACE Command Council

17 NOVEMBER 2021

7

Secure 

Reliable 

Installation

Energy
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ADAPTATION

MITIGATION
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Civil and Military Facilities and Infrastructure Footprint

Military Mission:

 Facilities at 800+ bases

• 560k+ facilities

• Buildings: warehouses, 

offices, barracks, etc

• Structures: bunkers, 

bridges, wharfs, etc

• Linear systems: airfields, 

rail, roads, etc

 Severe environments 

from the South Pacific to 

operations in the Arctic

 Concrete, Steel, etc!

Civil Works Mission:
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Climate Change and Resilience: Materials & Structures

• Buildings infrastructure design approaches for sustainable construction materials

• Balanced design approaches considering sustainability / embodied energy with 

other requirements for function and resilience

• Life cycle durability and service life extension – extending sunk embodied energy

• Modularization that enables future re-use of components / systems

Sustainable 

Infrastructure 

Design

• Novel cement chemistries with reduced embodied energy

• Materials design requirements that promote sustainable optimization 

• Bio-based / nature-based solutions and alternatives to concrete and steel

• Low-energy and optimized topologies through advanced manufacturing

• Enable circular economy – consider cradle to cradle in lifecycle metrics 

Sustainable 

Materials and 

Manufacturing

• Future climate impacts on serviceability and performance of critical facilities

• Future hazards on military and civil infrastructure (flood, fire, wind, storm surge, 

compound hazards)

• Social / humanitarian impacts on facilities, infrastructure, and communities

• Translation of uncertain future hazards / resilience requirements to ENGINEERING

Future Threats, 

Hazards, and 

Resilience
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Recent Activities in Sustainable Cement and Concrete

 Portland Limestone Cement

 Specifications

• ASTM C1157

• ASTM C595 or AASHTO M240

• Pervasive use of SCMs

 Alternative Cementing Chemistries

• Multiple activities Civil and Military

• Leveraging experience in specialty military apps

• PLC, CSA, CAC, MPC, LC3, Belite, Carbonating...

• along with manufacturing innovations...
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Optimizing Construction Materials-By-Design
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Civil and Military Aging Infrastructure Challenges

 Common drivers across civil and 

military infrastructure systems

 Concrete, steel, timber, polymers, 

composites, geomaterials

 Extend life of aging infrastructure

 Sustainable new infrastructure

 Consider life cycle embodied energy

Drivers: extend sunk embodied 

energy in existing infrastructure, 

address sustainability in new 

infrastructure, balance sustainability 

with performance and O&M costs
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New Initiative: Green Climate Resilient and Efficient DoD 

Installation Technologies (Green CREDIT)

• Comprehensive multi-level data management 

structure for measuring, analyzing, and accounting 

for carbon storage on DoD lands including circular 

economy considerations

• Life Cycle Analysis of additive construction and 

green materials with carbon-capture / -sequestration 

capabilities as construction negative emissions 

technologies (NET)

• New materials and additive construction systems 

evaluated in parallel with existing MILCON design 

methodologies

• Unified codes and standards for sustainable

manufacturing and materials performance evaluation

• Requirement: E.O. 14008, DoD Climate Adaptation 

Plan, Army Climate Strategy (Draft), Army Installation 

Strategy, USACE Climate Action Plan Action, DoD 

Additive Manufacturing Strategy 
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Thoughts in Construction Materials and Design

 Large GHG emission drivers in cement, geomaterials, construction, and other 

high-energy manufacturing processes

 Government construction often relies on commodity products / perf specs: 

how can we better enable innovative / sustainable products?

 We need to think beyond steel and concrete

 Materials and lifecycle design are hand-in-hand and will increasing be driven 

by the circular economy – and this is a big paradigm shift

 We must think full life-cycle of buildings and infrastructure: design, 

manufacturing, construction, operations, disposition, recycling

 Many professions (some may call them tribes) must work together to innovate:

• Researchers, engineers, policy, academia, manufacturers, contractors, labor
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ERDC Partnerships

FOR SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT

GOVERNMENT

PARTNERS

ACADEMIA

PARTNERS

INDUSTRY

PARTNERS

12 Countries

54 MOAs/MOUs,

6 CRADAs, 3 PAs,

10 DEA / IEAs 

Australia Canada Chile

France Germany Israel

Netherlands Norway

Sweden Switzerland UK

Italy

INTERNATIONAL 

PARTNERS

CONNECT:

Mechanisms

& Authorities

OTHER

TRANSACTON

AUTHORITY

(OTA)

Cooperative Ecosystem 

Studies Units

(CESU) National 

Network

Broad Agency

Announcement

(BAA) Authority
US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS • ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER • 17 FEB 2022 • UNCLASSIFIED • 22

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Robert D. Moser, PhD, SSTM

Robert.d.moser@usace.army.mil

601.634.3261

Scan this QR code with your 

phone for instant access

Connect to ERDC online
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Materials and Manufacturing

Supporting Army S&T, USACE, and Military and Civilian 

Stakeholders and Partners in ERDC Core Competencies:

• Blast and Weapons Effects on Structures and Geomaterials

• Civil and Military Engineering

• Military Installations and Infrastructure

• Cold Regions Science and Engineering