When faced with the question of how to bring Navy Federal Credit Union’s new Lexington Park facility closer to a sustainable, environmentally sound and responsible establishment, the world’s largest credit union turned to local supplier, Chaney Enterprises for help.
The company which provides banking services to all branches of the military and their families was searching for a way to receive more environmental credits knowing that there was only so much that could be done given time and budgetary constraints. NFCU contacted Chaney Enterprises about how to increase their LEED credits.
Chaney suggested that the company use one of their new product lines to assist in that effort – pervious concrete. For the better part of two years, Chaney has been experimenting with commercially viable pervious concrete applications. After months of trials where everything from varying permeability to tensile strength was tested and retested, NFCU and Chaney agreed to use pervious concrete for part of the new facility’s parking lot.
The first ever commercial application of pervious concrete was poured in part of the NFCU lot this past Tuesday, Feb 10.
According to Chaney spokesperson, Jessica Goad, NFCU will be earning LEED credit for its use of pervious concrete. They will receive credits for: Stormwater Design (Quantity control), Stormwater Design (Quality Control) and Heat Island Effect (non-roof).
“The first two refer to how stormwater is handled and treated, and the last credit refers to how the concrete used is preventing the heat island effect, which occurs when built up areas that are hotter than nearby rural areas,” said Goad. “The main reason that concrete prevents the heat island effect is that its reflective properties keep it from absorbing heat the way that asphalt does.”
As a bonus to the use of green products, NFCU gained 17 extra parking spaces as a result of using pervious concrete.
Goad explained that the compressive strength of concrete has been the subject of many tests of Chaney’s pervious product line and that in order to be commercially viable, the concrete had to withstand the rigors of heavy and industrial truck wear and tear. “We do that by raising the tensile strength of the concrete,” said Goad.
Goad explained further that the compressive strength of concrete is tested by breaking cylindrical concrete specimens in a compression testing machine, and is reported in units of pound force per square inch (psi).
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