Concrete: The Most Destructive Material On Earth. From The Guardian's Concrete Week

[Ussuri]

There is an article in the Guardian Today. It seems like the Engineers are the worlds worst enemy, with concrete being the weapon of choice.

A few quotes:

"concrete is the most widely used substance on Earth"
"third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world"
"concrete is said to be responsible for 4-8% of the world’s CO2"
"sucking up almost a 10th of the world’s industrial water use"
"destroying so many of the world’s beaches and river courses"
"the construction industry is also the widest channel for bribes...the more concrete, the more corruption"
"billions of tonnes of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere for projects of dubious social value"
"it ticks all the boxes in terms of environmental degradation"

and then towards the end, they actually interview an Engineer:

"there is no viable alternative"
"By almost any measure it’s the least energy-hungry of all materials"

Wattle and Daub anyone?

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/feb/25/concrete-the-most-destructive-material-on-earth

 

[oldestguy]

Positive proof that you can't always believe it if it is in print.

 

[Guest262653]

I would add the following Concrete Centre publication to the discussion:
This is Concrete - Ten Years, Ten Insights

 

[ACtrafficengr]

No mention of using waste products like silica fume or fly ash in concrete?

My glass has a v/c ratio of 0.5

Maybe the tyranny of Murphy is the penalty for hubris. -

http://xkcd.com/319/