GoinG Green !
Written on Wednesday, April 01, 2015 by Jose Sanchez Marquez
Work in progress...
Due to the cities needs roadways, parking lots and all kind of structures to may life easier we are changing the urban sustainability. The zones that were before moist permeable now are waterproof dry and this phenomenon is clearer in warm weather cities.
We are using 50 percent more resources than the Earth can replenish in a year. In other words, humans use the equivalent of 1.5 planets per year. By 2030, humans will use the equivalent of two planets each year.
There are Six countries With the Biggest Environmental Footprints. For instance in Qatar if every human being lived like the average Qatari, the Earth would need nearly 5 times more resources than it has. Kuwait uses 22 times more resources than the country provides per person. In Denmark because so much meat is eaten per capita in Denmark, the country must import a large amount of grain—so much that it would take up 215,000 square feet (2 hectares) of land per person, or 2.5 times more land than the country has. On the United States, Americans' love of road trips, suspicion of public transit, and growing energy demands fuel the country's high per-capita carbon emissions. Australia demand for wood, food, and pasture uses the equivalent of 753,000 square feet (7 hectares) of land per person, nearly 4 times greater than what is available on average around the world, finally Netherlands, consume more than they produce. The small country, with its high population density and relatively little land area for crops and pasture, consumes 6 times more resources (energy, food, and more) than it is able to produce, and about three times more than the Earth overall is able to sustain
As we known,
One benefit of concrete use is that it reflects the sunlight helping to reduce the city temperature. In the picture below we can see the differences in temperatures between concrete and asphalt. Concrete has a temperature of 38°C and the asphalt has a temperature of 55°C. Reason that explains why in warm cities is so common the use of air conditioning.
We must remember that when the asphalt leaves the factory or Asphalt Plant, the material had a temperature of (152 –154°C) during the time it takes arrive to the construction project can lose (2 - 4°C), when it is spread by the tracked paver, it is necessary to wait until the temperature decrease to (130 – 132°C) and then the drum vibratory rollers and Pneumatic rollers can work on the pavement.
Once the construction process is over the asphalt con reaches easily temperatures of (48–67°C) all year long, transferring excess heat to the air above them and heating storm water as it runs off the pavement into local waterways. Further, the Concrete temperature when leaves the factory or Concrete plant is around (30 – 32°C) and during the time it takes arrive to the construction project can lose (0.5 - 1°C). Once is completely finish in a very hot day can reach a temperature of (36 – 38°C).
Something extra can be done with Concretes,
The use of suplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) in concrete blends has
greater advantages . For instance the use of Ground granulated
blast-furnace slag or slag cement can improve the
visual characteristics of the concrete by
altering the color of concrete to a near-white color, a
characteristic observed in this study that leads to improve the reduction of
heat island effect in urban areas. This can be achieved by using 50 to 70
percent replacement levels, up to a maximum of 85 percent replacement
(Slagment, 2010).
In
addition, it is widely accepted that concrete is the most extensively used
construction material. The current average consumption of concrete is
about one ton per year for every living human being (Lippiatt and Ahmad, 2004;
Flower and Sanjayan, 2007) plus concrete is the second most consumed material
apart from water (Flower and Sanjayan, 2007).
The second reason is related to
the use of alternatives materials with self-cementing properties have a
remarkable environmental sustainability impact, including reduced energy,
reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and reduced use of raw materials. Both are
finely divided residue that results from two different industrial process, the
combustion of ground or powdered coal (fly ash) and a by-product of the steel
and iron industry (slag). Both have inherent environmental
benefits, including the requirement of less
land fill space and a decreased consumption of
clinker (USEPA, 2007).
About the cement specific emissions, a standard concrete
using only ordinary Portland cement (OPC) type the average value is 985.4 CO2 /ton. Meanwhile, the specific
emissions associated for fly ash and slag cement came to 1.51 kg CO2 /ton and 128.6 kg CO2 /ton respectively. This took
into consideration that both are by-product of the power and steel industry.
Thus, the product would be produced regardless of demand from the concrete and
cement industries (InEnergy 2010).
In addition,
“Experts say that we can solve global warming by painting everything white. We could gain up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit reduction if everything was white. But most of us are not ready for that white heaven yet. We still want colors. Great! No problem, just use an IRR coating that performs like white while still imparting color. Selecting ecofriendly products such as IRR (infrared reflective) coatings makes a contribution to the overall health of our planet and living environment. Oh, and by the way, it feels better to the touch and lasts longer.”
“Heat islands are areas significantly hotter than their surroundings, and urban heat islands (UHI) have resulted from the use of building materials and dark colors that absorb and retain heat. As heat increases, VOCs and nitrous oxides in the air can trigger dangerous ozone buildup and smog as well as require even more energy consumption to cool buildings”.Jaime Villagomez, president and CEO of NewLook International Inc.Getting Into Green
by Sherry A. BoydCONCRETE DECOR
References.
1.
Noticreto 104. Enero - Febrero 2011. Edición
Especial Edificaciones y Sostenibilidad Ambiental
2.
United States Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/heatisld/mitigation/pavements.htm
3.
Concrete Decor, The Journal of decorative
Concrete http://www.concretedecor.net/decorativeconcretearticles/vol-12-no-4-mayjune-2012/getting-into-green/
4.
National
Geographic News, http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/sustainable-earth/pictures-ten-countries-with-the-biggest-footprints/#/rio-20-united-nations-country-footprints-qatar_53582_600x450.jpg
Hi there, i read your blog from time to time and
i own a similar one and i was just wondering if you get a lot of spam feedback?
If so how do you stop it, any plugin or anything you can recommend?
I get so much lately it's driving me mad so any support is very much appreciated.
Stop by my webpage short term apartment boston
My web page - short term rental agreement form
Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from
somewhere? A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out.
Please let me know where you got your theme. Bless you
Feel free to surf to my web page - common electrical circuit symbols