Welcome SUSTAINABILITY
IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT TREE-HUGGING
I
‘m not a tree-hugger, I’m a builders merchant. I want to make money with all this.” Those immortal words were spoken 17 years ago by Tim Pollard, when,
as sustainability director at Wolseley Centers, he spoke to the industry conference about the set-up of the Wolseley Sustainability Centre in Royal Leamington Spa. It was an initiative that was way before its time and, alas, has gone with the wind, yet its message carries on. The building and construction sector is by far the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, accounting for a staggering 37% of global emissions. As such, there is massive scope for the sector to make a difference, to bring in initiatives, investments and ideas that will reduce our use of fossil fuels, the amount of carbon we emit into the atmosphere, the number of natural, non-renewable resources we consume. There are products out there that can make a massive difference to the impact that our built environment has on our natural environment. In truth, there have been huge strides made in this area, taking us a long way along the road towards net zero. A long way, but not far enough. Climate change is real. It’s here, it’s happened, it’s happening, it will continue to happen. You only have to look at the devastating natural events of the last 12 months – wildfires, floods, earthquakes, cyclones, landslides, all of them causing havoc and loss of life. Now, it appears, there is a breakthrough that might help one of the worst culprits to mitigate its effect on our planet.
The cement industry is a huge producer of carbon. If it were a country, it would be third behind China and the United States in its level of carbon emissions. A phenomenal amount of research has gone into reducing the emissions from cement and concrete already, but now a team in this country has found something a little bit special.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge have developed a method that might produce very low-emission concrete, that could transform our journey to net zero emissions. Crucially, this
research – you can find details of it all over the news – has found a way that could make this scalable. And that is very, very important. And very, very exciting, as it combines the twins goals of recycling waste material and reducing fuel use. The team found that you can reactivate used cement by exposing it to high temperatures again. That’s been done before, but what’s so cool about this particuular breakthrough is the way the research team has combined it with the heat generated by steel recycling.
The Cambridge researchers spotted that used cement is an effective substitute for the lime flux which is used in steel recycling to remove impurities, and which normally ends up as a waste product known as slag. But, by replacing the lime with used cement, the end product is recycled cement that can be used to make new concrete. By using the electric furnaces used for steel recycling to recycle cement does not add any significant costs to concrete or steel production and significantly reduces emissions from both concrete and steel, due to the reduced need for lime flux. Plus, if you use renewable energy to power the furnaces, you are even further along the road to net zero. It’s early days, a patent has been applied for to help make it commercial, and we will be keeping an eye on the progress, as, no doubt, will everyone in the sector.
Of course, that’s not to say that there isn’t a tonne of great stuff already happening, with carbon capture, and alternative fuels for example. This special issue is just a snapshot, there is so much more we could have covered given the time and space. It all shows that there is a massive amount of work going into all areas to try and help us along the path to net zero, whilst still managing to provide solid business benefits.
As the redoubtable Mr Pollard said back in 2007, it’s no good saving the planet if we can’t afford to make a living at it.
Fiona Russell Horne Group Managing Editor BMJ
June 2024 A supplement to builders merchants journal
Builders Merchants Journal Datateam Business Media London Road Maidstone Kent ME15 8LY Tel: 01622 687031
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net EDITORIAL
Group Managing Editor: Fiona Russell Horne 01622 699101 07721 841382
frussell-horne@datateam.co.uk
Assistant editor: Will McGill 01622 699185
wmcgill@datateam.co.uk
Editorial Contributor: Kevin Stanley ADVERTISING
Group Sales Manager: Dawn Tucker 01622 699148 07934 731232
dtucker@datateam.co.uk
Media Account Executive Morgan Borthwick-Hunter
mborthwick-hunter@datateam.co.uk 01622 69912
Production Controller: Nic Mandeville
Publisher: Paul Ryder
pryder@datateam.co.uk
© Datateam Business Media 2024 3
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