Lesson 4 Making things Flashcards
Are we going to stop using “indispensible” materials like concrete, steel and plastic?
No.
What can we do then?
Make concrete, steel and plastics better.
How much of greenhouse gases does manufacturing account for?
Nearly 1/3 - 31%
What is the problem with steel and concrete manufacturing?
Releasing CO2 is central to their creation.
Why is concrete used so much?
It is cheap, can be made locally and its ingredients are available most places on Earth.
What are the ingredients of concrete?
Gravel, sand, water and cement.
What is cement?
It is a binding agent made from the minerals found in limestone, shells, sand, etc, heated to high temps and ground into a fine powder.
What is the carbon problem with making concrete?
The making of the cement.
How does making cement create carbon emmissions?
The process to extract calcium from limestone, which also contains carbon and oxygen. You burn it at 2500°+
What in the resulting product called?
Clinker, which is ground into cement.
What does making clinker do?
For every ton of clinker created, a ton of CO2 is released.
How much cement do we make each year? How is that expected to change?
4 billion tons/year. It is expected to increase and then fall back to 4 billion by 2050. [Why?]
What is EcoCem Materials trying to do?
There is a by-product of the steel industry which may be better than cement in concrete manufacture.
What is that product?
Granulated Blast-Furnace Slag
What type of solution is this?
A Circular Economy. It uses the bi-product of one industry to reduce carbon emissions in another industry
