Summary article points

For our key points post:

In the MIT Technology Review, “What Happened to Green Concrete?”, Kristin Majcher (2015) wrote that with the world’s hunger for cement which contributed to 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, usage of green concrete was still not considered in large constructions today.

Key Points:

Lack of support/fundings:

Novacem, the forefront of green cement, found a way to replace Portland cement with a magnesium oxide material. The company sold its intellectual property to Australia’s Calix and was liquidated in September 2012 due to the financial crisis and lack of funding.

‘Storing carbon dioxide in cement is not the only way to improve the material’s environmental footprint’

Other technologies to reduce carbon emission

Nanoengineering: makes concrete twice as resistant to fracturing without significantly changing the weight or chemical composition

Fly-ash: modifying the properties of concrete by mixing concrete with fly-ash

Takeaway:

Concrete that is better for the environment is being used today at small scales.

Upgraded factories and processes have helped the industry improve its energy efficiency by 40 percent since the 1970s, new technologies will be required to move the needle significantly more.