Alternatives to Concrete

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Recommended: Population growth and its impact on the environment

Concrete today is considered by many modern engineers and architects as a more efficient and effective alternative to steel n regards to the creation of buildings, ranging from low-story apartments to neck-breaking skyscrapers. Through the rapid growth and development of the world's major metropolises and growing cities, concrete today has become one of the most important building materials to date. According to the World Business Counsel for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), “it has become the most consumed substance on earth, only superseded by water, with three tons for each person used annually” (World). This huge demand for concrete makes the cement industry one of the world's largest carbon dioxide producers, accounting for about five percent of all man-made pollution. “Approximately one ton of carbon dioxide is put into the atmosphere for every ton of cement used” (World). The cause for this problem is the increase of the global population and the increasing demand for land and energy. It's effect is that as the population continues to increase, it forces builders and developers to meet the quota of creating unlimited amounts of infrastructure within a limited resource-filled world. Knowing this, a proposed and widely agreed solution is to make the concrete in an environmentally-conscious way that will incorporate more demolished concrete, scrap from past projects, and other recycled aggregates.

““Green” building is the concept of constructing homes and buildings we need today without depleting resources for future generations” (Balogh) As a subsidiary, the concept of incorporating recycled concrete began as a start of a environmental response of the theory of “green building” towards the growing demand and ...

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...lag. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.nationalslag.org/blastfurnace.htm

Case histories. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.concreterecycling.org/histories.html

Cobiax. (2010, January). Insight. Retrieved from http://www.cobiax.ch/downloads/english/Cobiax_Insight_E.pdf

Green concrete. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.concreteideas.com/green-concrete

Project example. (2010, January). Retrieved from

http://www.cobiax.ch/downloads/french/projects/other_countries/Projektbeispiel_

Nationalstadion_Warschau_PL_e.pdf

Recycled materials in concrete reduce co2 emissions and landfill use. (2011). Retrieved from

http://www.greenconcrete.info/recycled.html

World Business Council for Sustainable Development. (2002, July). The Cement Sustainability

Initiative. Retrieved from http://www.wbcsd.org/DocRoot/1IBetslPgkEie83rTa0J/cement-

action-plan.pdf

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