The Benefits of Using Sustainable Concrete

The Benefits of Using Sustainable Concrete

Sustainable concrete refers to a hunk of concrete that utilizes less energy during production and produces minimal carbon dioxide as compared to the regular concrete. Structures that are constructed using sustainable concrete have minimal societal impacts during the life cycle. There are numerous benefits of using sustainable concrete. The first one being minimal Carbon (iv) oxide emission during its productions, which results in increased environmental quality. Since the manufacture of cement causes significant release of CO2, a greenhouse gas which contributes to environmental issues (Gautam, Krishna & Srivastava, 2014). Through the use of sustainable concrete, the environmental impacts are minimized as it also reduces the depletion of natural resources through the use of secondary raw materials as and urban mining. Transportation of the materials to the construction site is also reduced as it enables recycling on the site, thereby reducing the greenhouse gas effect.

Furthermore, the concrete meets the performance requirements of the contractors and producers. The concrete has low inherent energy requirements whereby little wasted products will be produced as it is made from most resources on the earth (Lemay, Lobo & Obla, 2013). Most of its contents are recycled, such as demolished waste aggregate, concrete materials, fresh local aggregate. Besides, the usage of potable water is also minimized. The advantages of sustainable concrete lead to its high performance and durable concrete.

Disadvantages of Using Regular Concrete

The production of regular cement involves high energy in its production, which results in a high level of Carbon (IV) oxide. This causes a high rate of pollution to the environment; therefore, it is not environmentally friendly. Besides, the use of regular concrete requires the use of high amounts of potable water, and most of its waste is not reused. The water is highly utilized in the production and curing of the concrete. This causes a lot of environmental pollution in moving the waste into disposable regions, and air pollution as the concrete is transported to the construction site and also moving the disposable concrete. Another disadvantage is that regular concrete has lower strength per unit weight, which results in massive members. This is a vital consideration, especially for skyscrapers, tall buildings, or long-span structures, which result in devastative impacts of concrete. Another disadvantage of regular concrete is that it is costlier as compared to other forms of concrete, such as sustainable or green concrete, since the materials used in its production are non-reusable and expensive to acquire as they are naturally acquired. This results in high costs in its production and construction (Naik, Kumar, Ramme & Canpolat, 2012).

Advantages of Using Green Concrete

Green concrete utilizes local and recycled materials such as artificial aggregates, fly ash, silica fumes, glass wastes, among others. It assists in not only recycling the industrial wastes but also solves the disposal challenges in the construction site.  This means that the concrete is environmentally friendly as it helps in disposing of industrial waste by using the waste and recycling the industrial material such as rice husk and fly ashes. Besides, the concrete gains strength at a fast rate and has a low rate of shrinkage as compared to the ordinary Portland cement. The structures that are built utilizing green concrete have high fire resistance as it can withstand high temperatures. Besides, Green concrete has a high resistance to corrosion, which is vital for the pollution impact on the environment. Using green concrete ensures that the building will be durable in comparison to ordinary concrete.  Another advantage is the reduction of the emission of carbon dioxide. The production of green concrete significantly reduces the concrete up to 80 percent lower carbon dioxide emissions (Tafheem, Khusru, & Nasrin, 2011).

References

Gautam, N., Krishna, V., & Srivastava, A. (2014). Sustainability in the concrete construction. International Journal of Environmental Research and Development, 4(1), 81-90.

Lemay, L., Lobo, C., & Obla, K. (2013). Sustainable concrete: The role of performance-based specifications. In Structures Congress 2013: Bridging Your Passion with Your Profession (pp. 2693-2704).

Naik, T., Kumar, R., Ramme, B., & Canpolat, F. (2012). Development of high-strength, economical self-consolidating concrete. Construction And Building Materials, 30, 463-469. doi: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.12.025

Tafheem, Z., Khusru, S., & Nasrin, S. (2011, December). Environmental impact of green concrete in practice. In International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Renewable Energy (Vol. 22, p. 24).