Sustainable cement is like vegetarian meatballs
Well note quite - I’m pretty sure you can get vegetarian meat-less balls! Anyway, I came across this in TreeHugger today - if you’re interested in sustainable and natural building, you’ll know all of this, but it’s kind of nice to have even more people saying it.
According to Professor of Engineering, Julian Allwood;
“The big news about cement is that it is the single biggest material source of carbon emissions in the world, and the demand is going up,” …”If demand doubles and the best you can do is to reduce emissions by 30 percent, then emissions still rise very quickly.”
“The cement manufacturers are trying, and have invested millions of dollars in programs like the Sustainable Cement Initiative. They have improved efficiency significantly but are up against the basic chemistry: The chemical reaction that creates cement releases large amounts of CO2 in and of itself. Sixty percent of emissions caused by making cement are from this chemical process alone. The balance is produced from the fuel used in production, which may be mitigated by the use of greener technology. So to “go green,” cement makers try to cut the fuel side of the equation.”
The industry says “Because of our initiatives, emissions are growing slower than they would without the interventions.” But they are still growing like mad.
The full article in The International Herald Tribune, say some 80 percent of cement is made in and used by emerging economies; China alone makes and uses 45 percent of global output. Production is doubling every four years in places like Ukraine.
Compounding the problem is the fact that cement used to be produced locally to where it was needed, but is now increasingly shipped long distances. On the Internet, cement brokers are now selling relatively cheap Ukrainian cement to all corners of the world. Demand is particularly high in the Middle East.
The dilemma facing cement producers in the developed world is that investing heavily in methods and equipment to curb CO2 emissions puts them in a financially disadvantaged position compared to less expensive cement produced (with more pollution) in less-developed parts of the world.
More than ever, governments need to look long and hard at their long-term goals and those of the planet. Research and standards need to be set for a reduction in the amount of cement used in construction and the alternatives that may be available. I am not naive enough to think that (with current building methods and ‘progress’) you can eliminate cement from the construction industry, but reduction is key.
