The construction sector has gone via a remarkable transformation since the 1950s.
Traditional power intensive materials like concrete and steel are now being slowly replaced by more environmentally friendly options such as bamboo, recycled materials, and manufactured wood. The main sustainability enhancement into the construction sector however since the 1950s is the inclusion of supplementary cementitious materials such as fly ash, slag and slicia fume. Replacing a portion of the concrete with SCMs can notably reduce CO2 emissions and energy consumption during production. Furthermore, the incorporating of other renewable materials like recycled aggregates and commercial by products like crushed class and plastic granules has gained increased traction in the previous few years. The employment of such materials has not only lowered the interest in raw materials and resources but has recycled waste from landfills.
Conventional concrete manufacturing utilises huge reserves of raw materials such as for example limestone and cement, that are energy-intensive to extract and produce. Nonetheless, industry experts and business leaders such as Naser Bustami would probably point down that novel binders such as for instance geopolymers and calcium sulfoaluminate cements are excellent enviromentally friendly options to conventional Portland cement. Geopolymers are designed by triggering industrial by products such as fly ash with alkalis resulting in concrete with comparable and sometimes even superior performance to mainstream mixes. CSA cements, on the other hand, need lower heat processing and emit less greenhouse gases during production. Hence, the adoption among these alternative binders holds great prospect of cutting carbon footprint of concrete manufacturing. Additionally, carbon capture technologies are now being designed. These revolutionary approaches try to catch carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from concrete plants and make use of the captured CO2 within the manufacturing of synthetic limestone. This technologies could potentially turn cement into a carbon-neutral and on occasion even carbon-negative material by sequestering CO2 into concrete.
In the last number of decades, the construction industry and concrete production in specific has seen significant change. Which has been especially the case in terms of sustainability. Governments across the world are enacting stringent legislation to implement sustainable methods in construction ventures. There exists a more powerful focus on green building attempts like reaching net zero carbon concrete by 2050 and an increased demand for sustainable building materials. The demand for concrete is anticipated to boost due to population development and urbanisation, as business leaders such as Amin Nasser an Nadhim Al Nasr may likely attest. Numerous nations now enforce building codes that want a certain percentage of renewable materials to be used in building such as for example timber from sustainably manged woodlands. Furthermore, building codes have incorporated energy saving systems and technologies such as for example green roofs, solar panels and LED lighting. Also, the emergence of the latest construction technologies has enabled the industry to explore revolutionary methods to enhance sustainability. For example, to reduce energy consumption construction businesses are building building with big windows and making use of energy efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning.