Concrete future - Concrete Mix Design, Quality Control and Specification - page 275

Concrete future
13.1 REMOVING IMPEDIMENTS TO THE MORE
SUSTAINABLE USE OF CONCRETE
James Aldred 1
13.1.1 Introduction
The concrete industry is keen to position itself as an integral part of sus-
tainable construction. Indeed, it is hard to think of sustainable develop-
ment for the growing global population without thinking of concrete as
the primary building material for structures and infrastructure. However,
there are many impediments to the more sustainable use of concrete within
projects. In fact, the contagion of excessive risk aversion and regulation
sweeping the industry appears to be on a collision course with sustainably
meeting the needs of the present. Sometimes even so-called sustainable
requirements cobbled onto existing specifications may result in reduced
sustainability.
13.1.2 Environmental policy
In his speech at Harvard University in 1947 George C. Marshall said: “An
essential part of any successful action … is an understanding on the part
of the people … of the character of the problem and the remedies to be
applied. Political passion and prejudice should have no part”. Arrhenius
suggested that fossil fuel combustion might eventually result in enhanced
global warming as far back as 1896. Yet it was thought that human influ-
ences were insignificant compared to natural forces and that the oceans
acted as such vast CO 2 sinks that there would be no net accumulation in
the atmosphere. The decrease in global annual temperature from the 1940s
to the 1970s in spite of significant increases in carbon dioxide shifted the
1 Adapted from the opening paper given by James Aldred at the Concrete in the Low Carbon
Era Conference, Dundee, UK, 2012.