Abstract
Because of its low cost, its ease of use and relative robustness to misuse, its versatility, and its local availability, concrete is by far the most widely used building material in the world today. Intrinsically, concrete has a very low energy and carbon footprint compared to most other materials. However, the volume of Portland cement required for concrete construction makes the cement industry a large emitter of CO2. The International Energy Agency recently proposed a global CO2 reduction plan. This plan has three main elements: long term CO2 targets, a sectorial approach based on the lowest cost to society, and technology roadmaps that demonstrate the means to achieve the CO2 reductions. For the cement industry, this plan calls for a reduction in CO2 emissions from 2 Gt in 2007 to 1.55 Gt in 2050, while over the same period cement production is projected to increase by about 50 %. The authors of the cement industry roadmap point out that the extrapolation of existing technologies (fuel efficiency, alternative fuels and biomass, and clinker substitution) will only take us half the way towards these goals. According to the roadmap, the industry will have to rely on costly and unproven carbon capture and storage technologies for the other half of the required reduction. This will result in significant additional costs for society. Most of the CO2 footprint of cement is due to the decarbonation of limestone during the clinkering process. Designing new clinkers that require less limestone is one means to significantly reduce the CO2 footprint of cement and concrete. A new class of clinkers described in this paper can reduce CO2 emissions by 20 to 30 % when compared to the manufacture of traditional PC Clinker.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The review is based on the analysis of 21 “main sources of information” such as assessments by the US Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) or the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IEA is an autonomous organization, which works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 28 member countries and beyond. The IEA received a mandate from the G20 to work on scenarios for carbon emissions reductions by 2050.
The WRI is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization founded in 1982.
The Cement Sustainability Initiative is part of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. It gathers 24 major cement producers that operates in about 100 countries. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a CEO-led, global association of some 200 international companies dealing exclusively with business and sustainable development.
References
Ashby MF (2009) Materials and the environment, eco informed material choice. Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier, Oxford. ISBN 978-1-85617-608-8
Barcelo L, Kline J (2012) The cement industry roadmap to reduce carbon emissions. In: Proceedings of the 2012 carbon management technology conference, Orlando
CSI (2009) Cement industry energy and CO2 performance, getting the numbers right. Concrete sustainability initiative. World Business Council for Sustainable Development. ISBN 978-3-940388-48-3
Cuesta A, Losilla ER, Aranda MAG, Sanz J, De la Torre AG (2012) Reactive belite stabilization mechanisms by boron-bearing dopants. Cem Concr Res 42(4):598–606
De la Torre AG, Cuberos AJM, Alvarez-Pinazo G, Cuesta A, Aranda AG (2011) In situ powder diffraction study of belite sulfoaluminate clinkering. J Synchrotron Rad 18:506–514
ESRL (2012) Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/mlo.html. Accessed 20 March 2013
Gartner E (2004) Industrially interesting approaches to low CO2 cements. Cem Concr Res 34(9):1489–1498
Gartner E, Li GS (2010) High belite-containing sulfoaluminous clinker, method for the production and the use thereof for preparing hydraulic binders. Patent n° US 785077632
Hammond G, Jones C (2011) Embodied carbon. The inventory of carbon and energy (ICE), BSRIA. ISBN 978-0-86022-703-8
IEA (2008) Energy technology perspectives 2008, scenarios and strategies to 2050. International Energy Agency, Paris. ISBN 978-92-64-04142-4
IEA (2009) Energy technology transitions for industry. Strategies for the next industrial revolution. International Energy Agency, Paris. ISBN 978-92-64-06858-2
IEA (2010) Energy technology perspectives 2010, scenario and strategies to 2050. International Energy Agency, Paris. ISBN 978-92-64-08597-8
IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007: synthesis report. Contribution of working groups I, II and III to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, Switzerland, 104 pp
Lühthi D, Le Floch M, Bereiter B, Blunier T, Barnola JM, Siegenthaler U, Raynaud D, Jouzel J (2008) High-resolution carbon dioxide concentration record 650,000–800,000 years before present. Nature 453:379–382
Enkvist P, Dinkel J, Lin C (2010) Impact of the financial crisis on carbon economics. Version 2.1 of the global greenhouse gas abatement cost curve. McKinsey&Company
Morin V, Walenta G, Gartner E, Termkhajornkit P, Baco I, Casabonne JM (2011) Hydration of a belite-calcium sulfoaluminate-ferrite cement. In: Proceedings of the 13th international congress on the chemistry of cements, Madrid, Spain
Quillin K (2007) Calcium sulfoaluminate cements—CO2 reduction, concrete properties and applications, report BR496, BRE, Garston, UK
Sharp JH (1999) Calcium sulfoaluminate cements—low energy cements, special cements or what? Adv Cem Res 11(1):3–13
Shokker AJ (2010), The sustainable concrete guide, strategies and example, U.S. Green Concrete Council. ISBN 978-0-87031-362-2
Taylor HFW (1997) Cement chemistry, 2nd edn. Thomas Telford, London. ISBN 0-7277-2592-0
USGCRP (2009) Global climate change impacts in the United States, a state of knowledge report, U.S. Global Change Research Program, 2009, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA. ISBN 978-0-521-14407-0
USGS (2012) Mineral commodity summaries 2012, U.S. Geological Survey, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4113-3349-9
WBCSD (2009) Cement Technology Roadmap 2009, Carbon emissions reduction up to 2050, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and International Energy Agency, 2009, Paris
WRI (2005) Navigating the numbers. Greenhouse Gas Data and International Climate Policy, World Resources Institute. ISBN 1-56973-599-9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barcelo, L., Kline, J., Walenta, G. et al. Cement and carbon emissions. Mater Struct 47, 1055–1065 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0114-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-013-0114-5