Globally, in every town and every city, concrete is used to give our buildings shape and strength. But the huge scale of the concrete industry comes at a cost – it’s estimated that around 7% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions come from the manufacture and use of cement, which is the main component of concrete.
Now, a team from the University of Tokyo have come up with a new kind of concrete that has the potential to reduce emissions from the construction industry! Read on to find out more about this concrete of the future.
For construction site workers, every day tends to start with a work gear checklist that looks something like this: Helmet – check, Boots – check, Hi-vis – check, Jetpack – check.
Hold up a minute, what was that last one – a jetpack? OK, so it may not be on the list right now but, with the launch of a new jetpack prototype that’s designed to support maintenance and inspection work at hard-to-reach sites, perhaps the jetpack will become one of those essential items soon! Who’s ready to fly?
In his book, ‘A Life On Our Planet’, Sir David Attenborough paints a bleak picture of what lies ahead if humanity continues to live as unsustainably as it is currently. It’s not a complete picture of doom and gloom, however, as he also lays out a series of actions we might take to prevent further damage and actually reverse some of the impact we have had on the natural world. A key part of that involves switching from a mindset that’s addicted to growth to a focus on a new sustainable measure of success involving the three Ps – people, planet and profit. Read on to find out more about this, including what we in the construction industry can do to embrace this way of thinking.