Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Are we stuck with cement?
theoutline.com ^ | 6/28/2018 | Mike Disabato

Posted on 06/29/2018 12:23:17 PM PDT by rktman

Earlier this year, Sara Law of the Carbon Disclosure Project raised her hand at a conference in New York on government and private sector initiatives to address climate change. She politely asked the panel, which had been assembled to discuss opportunities for investing in low-carbon infrastructure, whether they knew how much cement each project might require. The panel members shifted uncomfortably in their seats and chuckled; no one jumped in immediately to respond.

The problem is that many of these projects require concrete. A lot of concrete. This worries Law and her colleagues at the Carbon Disclosure Project, a non-profit that tracks industrial greenhouse-gas emissions and promotes proper carbon disclosure. The CDP recently released a report, “Building Pressure: Which cement companies will be left behind in the low-carbon transition,” warning the cement industry — cement being the main binder in concrete — that “in its current form, it will not be compatible with” any nation’s commitment in the Paris agreement; and if radical changes do not occur the world will “risk missing [its] climate goals.”

(Excerpt) Read more at theoutline.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: adobe; construction; globalwarming; steel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last
To: rktman
1) Stop importing millions of mud hut people every year so we don't need so much cement to build them things.
2) Keep Fedzilla on the Trump Diet. Fedzilla has the largest carbon footprint of any organization on Earth and the least to show for it.
41 posted on 06/29/2018 1:43:46 PM PDT by Reeses (A journey of a thousand miles begins with a government pat down.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: Reeses

Sacre bleu. What will gay paree say? ;-)


42 posted on 06/29/2018 1:51:27 PM PDT by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: z3n; rktman
Why isn't there a methane disclosure project?

Natural gas is regulated some places. Texas, California and other states do. But some states are very lax and the authority to regulate that on private land falls to the states. Obama implemented regs on federal lands where he had the authority, but Trump undid it.

How about sulfur?

They determined long ago that the sulfur in coal caused acid rain and global cooling so they shifted to low sulfur coal and Congress amended the Clean Air Act to regulate sulfur. Coal fired Power plants are allowed emit up to 100 tons per year of sulfur.

Along with sulfur, Congress included mercury, arsenic and other metals but that has never been implemented at the national level. But some states regulate mercury at 50 tons per year.

CO2 is not massively targeted.

Only the largest emitters are targeted. There are many sources of CO2 that are not and will not be regulated. Obama's first set of CO2 regs that he implemented in 2010 and were approved by SCOTUS in 2014 which applied to new and expanded permits affected only steel mills, cement kilns, and power plants. New permits had regulatory threshold of 100,000 tons per year of CO2. Expanded permits were at 75,000 tons/yr.

Obama's second set of CO2 regs that applied to existing permits and was called the Clean Power Plan and is still in court. It applied only to power plants.

Otherwise, the other large source of CO2 was auto and light duty truck tail pipes which were to be reduced by rising CAFE stds

There are no boring pollutants and many are regulated. The smog gasses which are NOx and VOCs are regulated at 250 tons/yr. Ozone it self is regulated at 75 ppm and if your locale exceeds that, you have to get your tailpipe tested. Chloro, Flouro, CFCs are regulated. There is a big long list of chemicals that was regulated in the 70s and congress expanded that list recently

43 posted on 06/29/2018 2:22:28 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Ben Ficklin

CO2 is part of the desired outcome....

Of

“During complete combustion carbon and hydrogen combine with oxygen (O2) to produce carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). During incomplete combustion part of the carbon is not completely oxidized producing soot or carbon monoxide (CO).”

We baby boomers learned this 7th grade science.....


44 posted on 06/29/2018 2:32:32 PM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Covenantor

There is a lot of other stuff in coal besides carbon. Did they teach that to you in Podunk?


45 posted on 06/29/2018 2:43:49 PM PDT by Ben Ficklin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: fishtank
Let’s just build stuff with wood, hay, stubble, mud bricks and corrugated steel.

That's what I was thinking. And maybe some grass huts. A cave here and there, maybe a nice mud hovel. And we could call it "progress."

46 posted on 06/29/2018 3:05:28 PM PDT by IronJack (A)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: edwinland

OR the author thinks that all the various sources of carbon emissions add up to some number much greater than 100%.

1/3 due top Cement
1/3 due to Steel and other metals
3/4 caused by Automobiles and Trucks
1/2 is caused by Humans exhaling
1/3 is caused by outdoor bbq’s and firepits
2/3 is caused by Power Plants

If you would have passed your common core exit exam in high school you would know all these add up to 100%.

I am old and we didn’t have common core back then, but it looks exciting!


47 posted on 06/29/2018 3:16:59 PM PDT by eyeamok
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: eyeamok

Excellent! By the way, I clicked through to the original study the article is “reporting” on and it clearly says cement is responsible for 6% of carbon emissions.

So perhaps in the common core 6/100 reduces to 1/3.


48 posted on 06/29/2018 3:29:35 PM PDT by edwinland
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Ben Ficklin

The point was made in reference to automobile CAFE standards to reduce CO2.

No effort was made on my part to discuss other combustion by products. Just the demonized carbon dioxide.

Silly little man..


49 posted on 06/29/2018 3:30:23 PM PDT by Covenantor (Men are ruled...by liars who refuse them news, and by fools who cannot govern. " Chesterton)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: rktman

These people need to be thrown into a deeply excavated footing and covered with a LOT of concrete.


50 posted on 06/29/2018 3:43:59 PM PDT by HighSierra5
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

Let’s just see how Social Justice Sarah enjoys living with a primitive and unsound infrastructure.


51 posted on 06/29/2018 3:48:49 PM PDT by NativeSon ( Grease the floor with Crisco when I dance the Disco)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rktman

ARE WE STUCK WITH CEMENT?

What do you call 10,000 “environmentalists” up to their necks in concrete?

A good start.


52 posted on 06/29/2018 3:53:11 PM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Psephomancers for Hillary!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert

Pozzolan provides an alternative for the Portland process. Use of fly-ash in modern mixtures is an attempt to gain attributes of volcanic ash as applied in Roman cement, which is very resistant to salt water.

https://www.history.com/news/the-secrets-of-ancient-roman-concrete


53 posted on 06/29/2018 4:22:25 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Ozark Tom

Pumice found to be the best cement material for sealing nuclear material storage/ containment vaults which have cracks. Made in USA—sourced from Idaho!

http://www.hesspumice.com/pumice-pages/pumice-uses/pumice-pozzolan.html


54 posted on 06/29/2018 4:42:35 PM PDT by Ozark Tom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: rktman
Remember that when cement sets, it absorbs CO2 out of the atmosphere. The CO2 combines with the calcium hydroxide in the cement to form calcium carbonate. Greenies just don't understand chemistry.
55 posted on 06/29/2018 6:35:30 PM PDT by JoeFromSidney
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shotgun
"A key ingredient in concrete is Fly Ash which is a byproduct from burning coal in coal fired power plants. The concrete industry has yet to find a suitable replacement for it."

There is a substitute. Volcanic ash. The Romans used it and their concrete has lasted for thousands of years. Modern concrete doesn't last more than a couple of hundred years.

Here is a point of trivia. We spent millions of dollars trying to replicate the formula of Roman concrete. Well, we figured it. How? Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an engineer for Octavian, who became Emperor Augustus wrote it down.

56 posted on 06/29/2018 6:59:10 PM PDT by fini
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: WMarshal

The cement plant in Charlevoix Michigan when I moved there in 1976 was named, appropriately enough, Medusa Cement.


57 posted on 06/29/2018 10:16:30 PM PDT by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson