Concrete's role in reducing building and pavement emissions

Phys.org ^ | September 16, 2021 | Andrew Logan

[American Number 181269513]

Encountering concrete is a common—even routine—occurrence. And that's exactly what makes concrete exceptional.

As the most consumed material after water, concrete is indispensable to the many essential systems—from roads to buildings—in which it is used.

But due to its extensive use, concrete production also contributes to around 1 percent of emissions in the United States and remains one of several carbon-intensive industries globally. Tackling climate change, then, will mean reducing the environmental impacts of concrete, even as its use continues to increase.

In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of current and former researchers at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) outlines how this can be achieved.

They present an extensive life-cycle assessment of the building and pavements sectors that estimates how greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategies—including those for concrete and cement—could minimize the cumulative emissions of each sector and how those reductions would compare to national GHG reduction targets.

The team found that if reduction strategies were implemented, the emissions for pavements and buildings between 2016 and 2050 could fall by up to 65 percent and 57 percent, respectively, even if concrete use accelerated greatly over that period. These are close to U.S. reduction targets set as part of the Paris Climate Accords. The solutions considered would also enable concrete production for both sectors to attain carbon neutrality by 2050.

Despite continued grid decarbonization and increases in fuel efficiency, they found that the vast majority of the GHG emissions from new buildings and pavements during this period would derive from operational energy consumption rather than so-called embodied emissions—emissions from materials production and construction.

[American Number 181269513]

Now concrete is bad for the environment.

Wood causes deforestation. Steel production pollutes. We can always go back to mud huts.

[richardtavor]

Nimrod attacked climate change with the world’s tallest building (didn’t like God’s floods). Where is that building now?

[PeterPrinciple]

co2 is NOT a pollutant

[frank ballenger]

It merely means that to plan construction projects using concrete you have to “cement” your close relationships with bribe money first. Pave the way with cash or they block you.

[hinckley buzzard]

Much ado about nothing.

[P.O.E.]

Cement Mixer (Mel Torme version)

[bigbob]

Tell AOC we’ve got to stop concrete farts!

[roadcat]

China is the problem, not the USA!

China used more concrete in recent years than all the concrete used by the USA in the last couple hundred years. China uses more concrete than the rest of the world. China is a major polluter. Why the silence from libtards about Chinese pollution?

[JD_UTDallas]

The whole planet is F’d humans use structural sand at twice the rate rivers and erosion replace it in the environment.

Desert sands cannot be used for concrete or island building they are rounded smooth like glass beads due to wind transport. Only angular sands can be used for structural uses be it concrete or land reclamation.

https://www.businessinsider.com/world-running-out-sand-resources-concrete-2018-6

“We use sand way more than you’d expect. Worldwide, we go through 50 billion tons of sand every year. That is twice the amount produced by every river in the world.”

“Between 2011 and 2013, China used more concrete than the US did in the entire 20th century. Again: in Three years, China built the equivalent to every highway, road bridge in the US. And the Hoover Dam”

“The ocean floor isn’t miles of sand deep. It’s a thin layer over rock, and that layer is home to microorganisms, which feed the base of the food chain. Collecting that sand disrupts fishing in the area and the landscape on shore. When removing sand from the seabed, the shore above water slides into the valley to even itself out. This still leaves shore communities open to flooding and erosion.”