We Practice the Principle of Sustainability – Capacity to Endure 

Our companies continually improve their practices in an effort to use our resources responsibly. Enduring through a century of adaptations is testament to our capability to engineer by innovation.

 

We feel fortunate to be servicing the wind energy sector at the Rasmussen Group, helping Iowa sustain its number two ranking in the country for wind energy production. From Jensen Crane Services erecting the tower, to one of our heavy haulers delivering the towers to the jobsite, all of our companies have been involved with the maintenance or new construction of a wind tower.

We have also installed many solar panels on our main office and shop buildings to help supply clean energy to our offices. We have also implemented a new drinking water system that connects directly to our water line to help eliminate our plastic bottle waste.

Below are a few instances in which The Rasmussen Group has taken to being good stewards to the land and using our resources responsibly.

 

Hallett Materials-Texas Provides a Wetland Area and Reduces Emissions

Located in an environmentally sensitive area northeast of Houston referred to as the “little thicket,” Hallett Materials respects that there must be a balance between development and preservation. In our effort to maintain this balance, we have committed 185 acres along the San Jacinto River into a conservation easement near our Porter location. Within the 185-acre tract, we have established over six acres of forested wetlands in which we have planted 2,000 Bald Cypress and Green Ash saplings. We have also created ten acres of herbaceous wetlands and preserved nearly thirty acres of existing wetlands, including the largest Bald Cypress tree in Montgomery County.

In the spring of 2009, Hallett Materials replaced the diesel-powered engine on our Porter dredge with a state-of-the-art electric powered system. The results have been phenomenal. We are able to maintain ample power for the dredge, while vastly reducing our diesel emissions.

We at Hallett Materials strive hard to be good stewards of the land. Our goal is to continue to be an industry leader in both innovation and environmental sustainability for future generations.

Grimes Asphalt and Paving Recycles

The Terex plant at our Grimes,Iowa plant location has recently seen green improvements, and none are as impressive and effective as the method for adding recycled asphalt into the mix. A design of bins, conveyors, crushers, and screens make up the system that allows for the use of recycled asphalt (RAP) into the Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA).

The method begins with the larger material being sorted out to be re-crushed later. The material then travels on a flat conveyor from the bin to another conveyor belt that transports the raw RAP to a small crusher, the RAP wrangler. The RAP wrangler breaks up larger pieces of material, which made it through the initial screen. The RAP then goes up a third conveyor to a scalper. The scalper has a one-inch screen that is tilted at a 45-degree angle and shakes. The shaking motion rattles material larger than an inch in size downhill while the larger material falls off the edges and piles up under the Scalper. Foreign matter that may be in the tear-out, such as wood or geo-fabric, rattles off the scalper and is discarded. The waste is minimal.

Once through the Scalper, the RAP makes its final ascent up a 50-foot conveyor and falls into the RAP chute. THE RAP chute connects to the mixing drum behind the burner. The RAP is mixed in with the hot aggregate and Binder. The finished mix is then rolled into the Slat Conveyor and transported into trucks. The Hot Mix Asphalt is then off to a job. Grimes Asphalt and Paving incorporated nearly 22% of recycled asphalt into the mix they produced.

Concrete Supply Provides Ready Mix to the Largest LEED Platinum-Certified Building to Date

The Wellmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield building in downtown Des Moines, Iowa is the first LEED Platinum certified building of its size in the world. Concrete Supply was a proud collaborator on this project.

Concrete Supply provided several different high quality mix designs to partner in this achievement, pouring over 30,000 cubic yards (cys) of concrete in total. Not only did Concrete Supply contribute to the LEED credits, we also utilized many different high-tech mix designs in the 600,000-square-foot building, pouring 8,000 cys of lightweight concrete, along with nearly 6,000 cys of post tension mix with a corrosion inhibitor admixture and 5,000 cys of intrusion piles.

Additionally, Concrete Supply incorporates fly ash and slag cements in their mixes, both of which are waste byproducts from power plants, steel mills, and other manufacturing facilities. Concrete Supply also recycles returned concrete and washout material into modified subbase material, recycled 1″-3″ clean material and usable fill materials that are incorporated into new projects.

Green and Main Project Des Moines, Iowa

Once a historic building in Sherman Hill, the Green and Main renovation has obtained Platinum LEED-certified classification. The Rasmussen Group is proud to supply ready mix for Green and Main, along with the construction services needed to assist in the project’s success.