How China used more cement in 3 years than the U.S. did in the entire 20th Century

Washington Post ^ | 24 March 2015 ??? | Ana Swanson

[Lorianne]

How China used more cement in 3 years than the U.S. did in the entire 20th Century

China used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the U.S. used in the entire 20th Century.

It’s a statistic so mind-blowing that it stunned Bill Gates and inspired haiku. But can it be true, and, if so, how? Yes, China’s economy has grown at an extraordinary rate, and it has more than four times as many people as the United States. But the 1900s were America’s great period of expansion, the century in which the U.S. built almost all of its roads and bridges, the Interstate system, the Hoover Dam, and many of the world’s tallest skyscrapers. And China and the U.S. are roughly the same size in terms of geographic area, ranking third and fourth in the world, respectively.

[BwanaNdege]

Organic, free range, Gluten free, non-GMA, no trans-fat, carbon neutral eggs, by any chance?

[UCANSEE2]

[GingisK]

Before I retired I designed and made instruments that tested the strength of concrete. There are ASTM standards for the yield strength of concrete and squishing machines that very samples.

Samples of the pour are taken at bridge and foundation construction sites, and are shipped to labs for testing. New bridges that appear to just sit in disuse and without progress are generally waiting for the concrete to age properly for testing. The concrete company sometimes pours the samples away from the construction site using skim-off of out-bound loads.

It is interesting that the steel is the center of computation. I didn't know that.

[Travis T. OJustice]

In my neck of the woods brown eggs are more popular. The brown and white eggs are side by side in the cooler where I shop. I watch people buy brown eggs almost exclusively. Brown eggs $3.59 a dozen, white eggs $2.58 a dozen. Makes no sense to me.

For years, there were egg campaign adds that had a cute little jingle "Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh". Complete tripe, the egg grower in my town has both white and borwn egg laying hens.

[OldMissileer]

Here’s hoping that they didn’t use Chinese cement in all of that. there is some really low quality stuff out there.

I am glad I try to read the replies before posting as I was going to ask if the cement was Chinese since most of that will degrade within ten years.