RC106 MayJune2023 - Magazine - Page 4
EDITOR’S NOTE
MAY/JUNE 2023
VOLUME 21 NUMBER 3
CONCRETE IDEAS
EDITOR
John Tenpenny
CONTENT DIRECTOR
Corinne Lynds
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jen Smith
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Connie Vitello
ART DIRECTOR AND SENIOR DESIGNER
Gordon Alexander
CONTENT CONTRIBUTORS
Mollie Deyong, H. David Edinger,
Alain Grégorie, Keith Holmes,
Sharla Johnson, Dominic Leadsom
by John Tenpenny
CONCRETE CAN BE A KEY CONTRIBUTOR in our fight against climate change.
Let that sink in for a second.
Lowering Canada’s net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is a tall order,
and getting there requires more than just running the dishwasher in the evening
or taking public transit.
It calls for a complete reimagining of not only how we live our daily lives, but
how we build Canada’s infrastructure.
It’s not just about what we build or how we build it, but what we build with.
Viewing construction materials as a factor in reducing our emissions can be a
game-changer.
Concrete is the most used building material on the planet, second only to
water. And the cement needed to make that concrete accounts for seven per cent
of global carbon dioxide CO2 emissions and about 1.5 per cent of Canada’s.
The idea of net-zero concrete has already taken hold in the industry. With the
federal government’s release of the Roadmap to Net-Zero Carbon Concrete by 2050,
in collaboration with the cement and concrete industry, the plan is to eliminate
more than 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions cumulatively by 2030,
followed by ongoing reductions of more than four million tonnes annually.
“Canada’s cement and concrete industry is a leader in the fight to stop
climate change,” said Adam Auer, president and CEO, Cement Association of
Canada. “Together with the government, we will continue to support the innovation and investment needed on our path to delivering net-zero concrete, while
at the same time preserving its properties as a durable, resilient, versatile and
cost-effective material.”
The idea of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) is another idea
already being used in other industrial processes, but it’s application can be an
added component to greening the cement and concrete industry.
The concept is being put into practice in Alberta with Heidelberg Materials,
in partnership with the federal government, planning to build a full-scale CCUS
system and a combined heat and power (CHP) system at its Edmonton cement
facility.
The $1.36-billion project would enable the company to produce carbon-neutral cement through the capture and compression of CO2 for subsequent transportation and permanent storage, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to
one million tonnes annually.
As we simultaneously attempt to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate
change, infrastructure will play a large role, and finding ways to reduce the
carbon footprint of those projects will take fresh as well as repurposed ideas.
Looking at building materials, such as concrete, is just one way those involved in constructing Canada’s public infrastructure can contribute to the
collective effort to decarbonize construction.
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