http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/cement/
EXCERPT: [Richard] Courland estimates there is about 40,000 kilograms of concrete for each person alive, and we’re adding about 500 kilograms per person each year. Vaclav Smil, author of Making the Modern World, estimates that China poured more concrete between 2011 and 2013 than the US had done in all of the twentieth century.
Everything about concrete is huge—including its carbon footprint. It’s fair to say that without concrete, the modern world wouldn’t exist. Ironically, it’s also fair to say that, in an unexpected way, concrete is contributing to the destruction of the modern world. That’s because the chemistry of cement, which is the glue that holds concrete together, produces carbon dioxide as a major byproduct. According to a 2018 study, the cement industry is responsible for about 4 percent of global annual greenhouse-gas emissions, nearly twice that of the aviation industry.
That’s why the world’s most common material is urgently in need of an upgrade. Even if we manage to burn fewer fossil fuels, deploy massive solar- and wind-power installations, and transition to electric cars, it won’t be enough to make our emissions goals. For the world to hit net-zero emissions within the next few decades, we will also need to find ways to pull CO 2 out of the atmosphere. And one way to do that would be to store it in our ever-expanding built environment. In fact, concrete could be a remarkably efficient carbon sponge.
Fortunately, work on that upgrade has already begun. Over the past year, while working on a series about solutions to climate change, I stumbled across fascinating developments under way in the cement industry, where both large multinationals and small startups are racing to create a greener product. Some of these companies have already created zero-emissions cement, and others are looking to create “negative emissions” products that would suck carbon dioxide from the air....
MORE: http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/cement/
EXCERPT: [Richard] Courland estimates there is about 40,000 kilograms of concrete for each person alive, and we’re adding about 500 kilograms per person each year. Vaclav Smil, author of Making the Modern World, estimates that China poured more concrete between 2011 and 2013 than the US had done in all of the twentieth century.
Everything about concrete is huge—including its carbon footprint. It’s fair to say that without concrete, the modern world wouldn’t exist. Ironically, it’s also fair to say that, in an unexpected way, concrete is contributing to the destruction of the modern world. That’s because the chemistry of cement, which is the glue that holds concrete together, produces carbon dioxide as a major byproduct. According to a 2018 study, the cement industry is responsible for about 4 percent of global annual greenhouse-gas emissions, nearly twice that of the aviation industry.
That’s why the world’s most common material is urgently in need of an upgrade. Even if we manage to burn fewer fossil fuels, deploy massive solar- and wind-power installations, and transition to electric cars, it won’t be enough to make our emissions goals. For the world to hit net-zero emissions within the next few decades, we will also need to find ways to pull CO 2 out of the atmosphere. And one way to do that would be to store it in our ever-expanding built environment. In fact, concrete could be a remarkably efficient carbon sponge.
Fortunately, work on that upgrade has already begun. Over the past year, while working on a series about solutions to climate change, I stumbled across fascinating developments under way in the cement industry, where both large multinationals and small startups are racing to create a greener product. Some of these companies have already created zero-emissions cement, and others are looking to create “negative emissions” products that would suck carbon dioxide from the air....
MORE: http://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/cement/