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Green concrete can be defined as concrete either made from concrete waste or from materials using technologies that are more environmentally friendly than those involved in the production of the common concrete. Green concrete is often produced from such materials as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnace slag, apart from the usual aggregates such as sand and gravel. Numerous experiments have been conducted in order to discover and test new ways to create green concrete, and tests have shown that certain types of such concrete might be as durable or even more durable than the regular concrete, and have other similar properties (Jepsen, Mathiesen, Munch-Petersen, & Bager, 2001). Therefore, some types of green concrete can be used instead of the common concrete as materials for building different constructions. The use of green concrete is justified because of the benefits it has; for instance, it leads to lower amounts of CO2 emissions, is more environmentally friendly, and more sustainable.
Lower CO2 Emissions
The innovative types of concrete developed by collaborating scientists and manufacturers might allow for significantly reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. For instance, the E-Crete, a green geopolymer concrete offered by the company of Zeobond, has the potential of considerably reducing the amount of CO2 emissions involved in the production of concrete (Nowak, 2008). It is stated that the manufacturing of the traditional concrete involves the use of gravel and sand, which are bound together with cement; however, the production of cement requires using rather high temperatures, which are commonly achieved by burning fossils; in addition, the chemical processes that are necessary to create cement also give out carbon dioxide (Nowak, 2008). As a result, the manufacture of concrete results in a large amount of emissions of CO2, as well as of some noxious gasses, depending on the type of fuel being burnt.
On the other hand, E-Crete is made using geopolymer cement. The production of this cement requires slag and fly ash, which are some of the waste products of such companies as steel smelters and power stations, and does not lead to massive emissions of carbon dioxide; in fact, the emissions of this gas are reduced to nearly 20% of the emissions resulting from production of the traditional concrete (Nowak, 2008). The problem lies in the need to transfer to the production of E-Crete on a massive scale, and certain barriers to that transfer exist (Nowak, 2008). However, it is clear that using E-Crete instead of the traditional concrete can considerably lower the amount of CO2 emissions, thus reducing the risk of global warming.
Environmental Friendliness
Using green concrete made of materials with certain heating properties may also allow for decreasing the threat of global warming in another way. According to Ramkumar (2013), concrete buildings are a source of heat in the summer because they absorb the solar energy quicker than e.g. vegetation, and give it out faster as well, thus creating the effect of heat islands in large cities, and possibly contributing to the global warming. Thus, the production of green concrete which would not heat its surroundings as much might help address one of the causes of the global warming.
In addition, a variety of designs of recyclable green concrete made of environmentally friendly materials exist (Jepsen et al., 2001). These kinds of concrete may be utilised instead of the regular concrete in order to reduce the amount of waste which is produced when old buildings are demolished. It is stated that these green kinds of concrete generally have properties which are similar to those of the regular concrete, and can be used instead of the latter in order to help preserve the environment (Jepsen et al., 2001).
Sustainability
The use of green types of concrete may allow for considerably greater sustainability than the use of the traditional concrete. This is achieved not only because the production of green types of concrete usually results in a lower amount of emissions that are harmful to the environment than the creation of the common concrete, but also because for the production of green concrete, either environmentally friendly materials or the materials which are the residual products of the concrete industry itself can be used, thus resulting in a better preservation of the natural environment (Jepsen et al., 2001; The First International Conference, 2013). In addition, certain types of green concrete may prove more durable than the common concrete, also resulting in a higher degree of sustainability due to the increased lifespan of the constructions built using these types of concrete ( The First International Conference, 2013). Furthermore, certain green kinds of concrete have a greater degree of durability against aggressive chemicals (Jepsen et al., 2001; Nowak, 2008), which makes them less susceptible to deterioration resulting from such phenomena as acid rains.
Also, certain kinds of green concrete might be characterised by increased durability and lifespan when compared to the common concrete (Jepsen et al., 2001). This means that the constructions built from such green concrete will serve for longer periods of time; consequently, the demand for new buildings will be lower, which will reduce the financial spending involved in the process of building, as well as the total amount of concrete needed, resulting in smaller adverse effect on the environment. In addition, the production of green concretes requires the utilisation of more effective processes and systems, thus lowering the adverse environmental impact of concrete even further (Jepsen et al., 2001).
Conclusion
Therefore, it should be stressed that the use of green concrete instead of the regular one may help considerably reduce the adverse impact of concrete production on the environment. This is related to three main causes: that green concrete results in lower amounts of carbon dioxide emissions, that it is more environmentally friendly in general, and that it is more sustainable than the usual concrete. Thus, the transfer to using green concrete in the building industry is highly recommended if steps towards the preservation of the environment are to be made.
References
Jepsen, M. T., Mathiesen, D., Munch-Petersen, C., & Bager, D. (2001). Durability of resource saving green types of concrete. Proceedings of the FIB-Symposium on Concrete and Environment in Berlin, 2001, p. 257-265. Web.
Nowak, R. (2008). Geopolymer concrete opens to reduce CO2 emissions. New Scientist, 197(2640), 28-29.
The first international conference on concrete sustainability. (2013). Web.
Ramkumar, M. (Ed.). (2013). On a sustainable future of the Earths natural resources. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.
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