For thousands of years, humanity has had a love affair with cement and concrete. But now, industry groups and researchers are seeking solutions to the huge amounts of carbon dioxide that cement-making generates.
have now released detailed road maps for reducing that 8 percent to zero by 2050. Many of their strategies rely on emerging technologies; even more are a matter of scaling up alternative materials and underutilized practices that have been around for decades. And all can be understood in terms of the three chemical reactions that characterize concrete’s life cycle: calcination, hydration and carbonation.
But even then, there’s work to be done before cement-makers around the country and the world can switch over to hydrogen wholesale, says Richard Bohan, who leads the Portland Cement Association’s sustainability efforts. The systems aren’t yet set up for it. “Hydrogen would be great — and right off the bat could reduce our carbon footprint by 40 percent,” he says.
Granted, there was a lot of carbon dioxide emitted during the original creation of these wastes. But using them in cement doesn’t produce anycarbon. And two-plus centuries of industrialization have left a substantial backlog of slag and ash, even if we eventually phase out coal entirely. “It’s a win-win. If you have the waste, then replacing your clinker with it is cheaper than producing new clinker,” says Andrew.
, a climate policy think tank in San Francisco. “These newer technologies are at various stages of R&D and commercialization,” he says. “So they still need more technology refinements to help them scale up and drive down their costs.”geopolymers Aside from the transportation required to truck materials to the site, there’s nothing here that generates any further CO2. But the hydration equation does highlight an indirect way of reducing a building’s cement usage, and thus its carbon footprint: Use concrete as sparingly as possible.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
What Could a Chevy Corvette ZR2 Off-Road Coupe Look Like?We asked an AI image generator, and the results have us excited about a Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracán Sterrato competitor.
Lire la suite »
‘We have an angel up there’: Funeral remembers Dallas teen killed in road-rage shootingIRVING — The funeral home on Story Road was packed with purple for hours Friday. Gabriel Zamora, 14, was shot in a road-rage incident in late September while...
Lire la suite »
Jets’ playoff push starts now with key road test vs. VikingsThe Jets will play a meaningful game in December for the first time in years this Sunday. Now, they have bigger things in mind.
Lire la suite »
Bikers to hit the road for 45th annual Toys for Tots ParadeThousands of motorcyclists with toys strapped to their bikes will travel north on Western Avenue from the Dan Ryan Woods.
Lire la suite »