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Cement is the Source of About 8% of the World's Carbon Dioxide Emissions (bbc.com)
Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in existence. It is second only to water as the most-consumed resource on the planet. But, while cement -- the key ingredient in concrete -- has shaped much of our built environment, it also has a massive carbon footprint. From a report: Cement is the source of about 8% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to think tank Chatham House. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world -- behind China and the US. It contributes more CO2 than aviation fuel (2.5%) and is not far behind the global agriculture business (12%). Cement industry leaders were in Poland for the UN's climate change conference -- COP24 -- to discuss ways of meeting the requirements of the Paris Agreement on climate change. To do this, annual emissions from cement will need to fall by at least 16% by 2030.
if only there were a material that stored carbon and could be used for constructions and building roads.
Well that's not very exciting ... can't the culprit be something more like "capitalist guys in top hats smoking cigars and twirling their handlebar mustaches while chortling evil-y"???
If you're looking to cut CO2 emissions, please look elsewhere. Concrete is pretty much essential to life as we currently know it in the civilized world. Let's go back to building with wood and replicate the 1906 fire in San Francisco...
How much do cement-for-brains pointy-haired bosses account for?
Concrete contributing to CO2 has been known for a while - that is why at this point there are a lot of solutions to that problem, including concrete variants that sequester or even absorb CO2.
Notice how old some of the results in that search are...
If CO2 is really a problem, local governments will seek to adopt some of those ideas.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Not sure how this is suddenly news. It's been called out since the very first IPCC report, and known long before that.
This is part of why nuclear power and hydroelectric power aren't exactly green. Far better than fossil fuels, sure, but much worse than an equivalent solar or wind farms in terms of CO2 release. The amount of concrete used in both nuclear plants and hydroelectric dams is massive. It dwarfs the pads for solar panels and wind turbines.
But like everything, it's complicated. Turns out that over decades, concrete actually absorbs a large amount of CO2. It seems to be close to half that released when making it. If carbon capture could be used during production, over its lifetime, concrete could become carbon negative. And alkali-activated cements seem to be on the horizon, taking industrial CO2 byproducts and making them into concrete-like structures.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
Concrete is made with cement and aggregate. Cement is not the same as concrete. The two are not interchangeable.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
https://buildabroad.org/2016/0...
I thought there was a previous story here about alternates to Concrete? Just can't remember what/where they are. Not sure this is what was mentioned in the article, but.
What are the advantages? Compared to Portland cement (made from chalk and clay and resembling Portland stone in color), which is one of the leading types in use throughout the world today, Ferrock is actually five times stronger.
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
Compared to Portland cement (made from chalk and clay and resembling Portland stone in color), which is one of the leading types in use throughout the world today, Ferrock is actually five times stronger. It can withstand more compression before breaking and is far more flexible, meaning it could potentially resist the earth movements caused by seismic activity or industrial processes. One of the unique properties of Ferrock is that it becomes even stronger in salt water environments, making it ideal for marine-based construction projects. And rather than emitting large amounts of C02 as it dries, Ferrock actually absorbs and binds it! This results in a carbon-negative process that actually helps to trap greenhouse gases.
sorry, missed some things in the previous post
Anonymous comments are as pathetic as the anonymous "sources" that contaminate gutless journalism from the New York Time
If you look at the URL for that story, it's from 2016...
if you try to follow the link to ironkast.com, you just get a big "SITE UNAVAILABLE PAGE" message.
So what happened? I remember reading about that before, it seemed like a great idea with a lot of benefits.
It makes me wonder if there was some downside they didn't report in that article... material science is hard stuff (not even joking there. Well maybe just a little).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Sounds like a really hard problem.
Obviously the solution is to tax cement.
Cities arguably have the most concrete, so it only makes sense that they pay up the most.
Farts contain about 7 percent methane. Methane is 84 times more potent than co2. Globally 20 percent methane comes from animals raised for meat. Stop consuming meat, problem solved. If people were not that dumb, GW would never have been an issue - sigh!
THERE WILL BE CONSEQUENCES FOR YOUR LIES NAZI FAGGOT PROPAGANDIST KEN DOLL
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING. Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING
Growing up, I was much more evironmentally conscious and wanted to preserve water supplies, pristine forests, endangered etc. But in the last 10-15 years (and especially the last 5) - I realized I don't care anymore. I still like the Earth, but I hate its children. Never been so disgusted in my life to see all the shit they do, the cellphones, the asian weirdo cartoon faces, their choppy, stuttering YouToob remix of everything.
I'd rather poison the world and watch it die.
First, cement is synthetic.
Second, the CO2 emissions of cement making is well known.
How about another article telling us that it turns out that the oceans are mostly made up of water? Who knew?
Interestingly if you search there has been progress made in large scale timber construction in recent years.
just turn it all into limestone and bury it in the ground. Oh wait...
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Climate change will kill us all. Let everything made with cement as an ingredient disintegrate back into the earth...given enough time it will happen and we will all be safer because of it. I say that we shoot for a target of say 50% reduction, then get the top N things that contribute to that and outlaw them all. Anyone caught breaking the law will need to pay for that amount in a carbon tax with interest...say 10%/year until the half-life of their carbon footprint is immeasurable. C'mon folks, let's all chip in an really knock this one out of the park...which would be made out of earthen materials like dirt hillsides...but that's ok because we will have a better society as a result.
What's with you damned environmentalists and trying to starve poor people. Carbon taxes are the worst possible regressive taxes. I'm a rich, fat white American, and carbon taxes will only impact my retirement portfolio, probably positively, because I know Pelosi, et al, are beholden to the bankers. However, the working class will get fucked hard with your carbon taxes.
Solution
CO2 Outline
More concerning CO2 Emissions items that could be fixed only with the stroke of a pen:
Brazil’s new president plans to plunder the Amazon
U.S. Law
A Century of Fire Suppression Is Why California Is in Flames : California’s forests emitted more carbon than they soaked up between 2001 and 2010
Repeat after me: Cement is not Concrete. Concrete is Not Cement
Concrete = Cement + Aggregate
Cement is the glue that holds it all together to make Concrete.
Scott
Leftists really do want us living in Mud Huts.
Environmentalists already want to humanity to exclusively eat insects and pests
http://theconversation.com/eat...
So take meat off the menu, and add roaches, ticks, maggots, and leaches. Yum!
They also advocate for the reduction of 90%+ of earths population.
https://www.conservapedia.com/...
Think the people that remain will include you?
Now in addition they want to take away the ability to build buildings and roads from concrete, and certainly not wood, and most definately not harmful plastics, and forget glass. Environmentalists also do not approve of iron, steel or other refined metals (harmful gases, destructive to environment when mined, energy intensive).
Did you know that modern agriculture is a big producer of CO2 gases? Enviromentalists want this to go. No more corn, carrots or potatoes.
This is environmentalism. These are the facts.
my semen-t emissions!
But if a cow is slaughtered to feed me, it stops farting. My dietary predilections are saving the planet.
What we need to do is to get rid of all the cows that are just wandering around, farting (and belching). Hindus, I'm talking to you.
Have gnu, will travel.
Portland cement absorbs CO2 while setting... Just not as much as it takes to make the clinker using fossil fuels. With solar kilns it could be close to neutral
I simply call bullshit on those numbers...
Cement is not a daily used item. Even if all it's mass was converted to CO2, every 2 people will build a house over a lifetime. I can see lots of things that will release more CO2 over a lifetime:
Ppl breading
Ppl opening Coca-Cola
Ppl burning wood on Winter
No way cement can be 8%...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
It is what the pyramids were made from, pour-able limestone.
If the Earth get too heavy we will sink in the Solar System!
This. It's like the argument that smokers are driving up healthcare costs when they're dying far too quickly to be of any strain on the system. Comparatively, old people cost billions upon trillions a year, but nobody would dare call them out for the exorbitant cost they place on healthcare.
Ferrock, there are several problems with it. For example, the hype says it absorbs CO2. If it absorbed significant quantities of CO2, then the structure would gain mass as it aged. How would you design something that starts out at one mass, then continually bulks up over time? Would it's dimensions bulk up as well? FeCO3 is the material. Also ,It requires iron powder, not iron oxide powder. Iron powder does not occur in nature. Instead, you must first smelt iron oxide which, you guessed it, releases CO2 into the air. Not sure about the price. David Stone, the principal, says they use recycled steel powder but suspect it would be more expensive than baking calium carbonate.
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
The main problem is that two of those "local governments" are India and China - until we figure out a way to get them in check
Since you can't control what they do, the only way you can "get them in check" is to use improved concrete alternatives locally and show ways in which it is superior, so it would naturally be adopted over traditional means.
China and India have also both signed onto global warming accords so it's obvious they are highly motivated to address the issue, otherwise why would they be signatories.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
In the past 10 years China has used MORE CONCRETE than the United States has used since 1776!! That is a fact that is hard to believe but it is true. China is a giant in construction, building most of what is today's modern China from pretty much rubble.
Since China is excluded from any global warming agreements since it is a "developing nation" don't expect anything to change.
Also in the news: The planet is actually STARVED of CO2 as the planet is the greenest it has ever been and plants are being starved for the basic nutrient.
The real answer is to plant trees, lots and lots of trees. The real questions are how many trees do I need to plant per cubic meter of cement and where should I plant them?
FTA: "Additionally, the inclusion of graphene in the concrete reportedly allows for a reduction of about 50 percent of other materials used, including cement. The scientists state that this factor should result in a 446 kg/tonne reduction in emitted CO2." https://newatlas.com/graphene-...
That is the problem with CO2 and Global warming. It is a real problem, but it isn't easily seen, and to fix it requires a lot of changes
That's the thing. In a lot of other areas CO2 reduction may require complex changes.
But in terms of fundamental material used in construction, really not - find an alternative that is structurally sound, mandate construction use it. Done.
I specifically wonder why California is not doing this already when they are perfectly willing to regulate many other things of greater complexity in order to reduce CO2 emission.
This seems like an obvious quick win for CO2 reduction all over the place, so why are no alternatives for traditional concrete being actively explored and used? At this point a number of alternatives should be commercially viable.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
But that doesn't mean that we can't change the technology used to make it. Solidia claims to have a fix.
http://yetanotherpoliticalrant.blogspot.com
https://www.mineralandwastepla...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
> How China used more cement in 3 years than the U.S. did in the entire 20th Century
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/03/24/how-china-used-more-cement-in-3-years-than-the-u-s-did-in-the-entire-20th-century/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.369eba1db2a5
Can't keep ostrich head in the sand ignoring biggest polluters, China, Indai, Indonesia and Brazil in total pollution emitted, ambient air quality in top 5 cities.
2 / 3 rds of the world's population needs to clean up their own air quality, resource usage, pollution output before the EU should take any big steps.
Trade policy could force, like child labor laws, those 2 / 3 rds of the world's population to do their part before the 1/3rd which have been cleaning up 40+ years since 1970 have done.
Because the cement itself is carbon neutral.
Reactions
CaCO3 ==> CaO + CO2
CaO + H2O ==> Ca(OH)2
Ca(OH)2 + CO2 ==> CaCO3 + H2O
So for each molecule of cement you make, you do produce 1 molecule of carbon dioxide. Then to use the cement, you add a molecule of water. And then over time, the result reacts with carbon dioxide (removing the carbon dioxide that was released when the lime was made) and releases a molecule of water.
The only non-neutral production of CO2 from making cement is that from whatever source of energy you use to heat up the calcium carbonate to produce the lime.
Doing a bit of research, it looks like 60% of the carbon dioxide released is from the chemical reaction and 40% from the heat used to drive the reaction. Since the 60% from the reaction will be reabsorbed by the cement, we can ignore it. So the actual amount of CO2 due to cement production isn't the 8% the article mentions, but something closer to 3.2%.
When it sets. Ca(OH)2 + CO2 -> CaCO(OH)2, back to Calcium Carbonate.
Shouldn't we just have more babies?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Now there will be a ban on concrete to "stem man made global warming", just like there was a push to ban cows, or make them wear some sort of diaper to capture that CO2 in their farts. Ban concrete, guess we'll have to go back to building everything out of lumber. Oh no! can't do that, might cut down too many trees. Guess we'll all go back to living in caves. Nope, can't do that, might displace the animals, reptiles or insects that live there. You anti everything morons don't get it. One good volcano burps out more "nasty Co2" than anything man ever did or could do. Mt. St. Helen's alone screwed up "the weather" more than we ever have. Just smoke your mary jane, sniff up your coke and leave the rest of us alone.
Per capita the US ranks up near the top.
Twice China and the EU
10 x as much CO2 as an Indian etc.
The main problem is people like you and WindBourne who try to deny reality and blame other people who are far cleaner than yourselves.
Carbon dioxide is released as lime is burned, to make calcium oxide, the primary component of regular cement. As the cement sets, it reabsorbs a great portion, if not all, of the CO2 originally produced. https://www.cement.org/for-concrete-books-learning/concrete-technology/concrete-design-production/concrete-as-a-carbon-sink
Because the CO2 is produced as a point-source pollution, and absorbed in a distributed manner, cement could become carbon-negative by doing the easy point of sequestering the carbon at its source. This is best done by use of a microbial reactor, that is, the gas bubbled into water containing algae and exposed to sunlight. The algae, or its oil, can then be used as fuel. See Boyrtrococcus braunii on wikipedia.
At some point human societies need to wake up to the fact that continuous growth without limit doesn't exist in a closed system (physical or intellectual, just wait till we can't con everyone into believing that the economies can just keep right on growing)
, all the scrimping and savings on climate emissions means nothing without real limits put on growth. The rate we are going we will all wind up with just barely enough to survive, and the generation after that not enough. Maybe not tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but someday sooner than we think.
Current CO2 levels of 400ppm are close to the lowest levels in 600 million years! In every record, temp increase BEFORE CO2. CO2 is only 4% of total greenhouse gases! Every single temperature forecast the IPCC has made since 1990 has been wrong! And refer to the data manipulation scandal of "Climate Gate"!, etc., etc., ... You been PuNk'd! They gonna tax you for breathing! You won't be able to afford the new Hondaâ Coal-powered Personal Space Pods!
farmer green jeans here -- learn more @ https://bit.ly/2voEVIr
About 14-18% of CO2 emissions are from agriculture. And organic agriculture produces 50-70% more CO2 than modern farming techniques (that includes all considerations for fertilizer, techniques, etc). Cutting organic farming techniques (voluntary, like in the US and most of the EU, and involuntary like in most of the 3rd world) could easily significantly cut total CO2 output.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Ban them all -- Coke, Pepsi, fizzy water. They leak significant amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. While you are at it, ban volcanoes, particularly in Iceland.
Organization: alphabetical, sometimes numerical or messy
Cement is part of concrete, and the aggregate isn't what contributes CO2. So, the cement is the cause, even if concrete is the most common use for cement.
Your ad here. Ask me how!
It's evil, the TV said so!
What a joke 'Climatedot' has become. Every single day, there is a 'catastrophic man-made global warming' article, at least one, pushing the party line.
www.climatedepot.com
www.wattsupwiththat.com