Top 10 Green Concrete Facts You Don’t Know Yet

A blog featuring ten important, exciting (and fun!) facts about green concrete.

This is an exciting time for the construction industry. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has reported that over 137,000 projects have registered with or certified through their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program since 2000. With a focus on improving resource efficiency and reducing waste, LEED projects are all about sustainability, making them the perfect fit for green concrete.

In fact, using green concrete can help your building project earn up to five points toward LEED certification – which may not sound like much until you consider that such a small change could put your project into a whole new certification level!

Want to learn more? Here are our top ten facts about green concrete:

Concrete, which is the second most used material in the world, needs to be greener. More than 6 billion tons of concrete are used each year, worldwide, and that number is expected to increase by 33% in the next 20 years.

There are many factors that make green concrete more sustainable and environmentally friendly. Here are a few facts about green concrete you might not have considered:

Green concrete is a most popular trend in the construction industry. This is a type of concrete that involves using waste products as the main ingredient instead of cement. For example, it can be made with fly ash, which is a by-product of coal power plant. Another material used in the production of green concrete is slag, which is a by-product of metal smelting. Although green concrete has only been around for about 15 years, it has been rapidly gaining popularity due to its many benefits. Here are some facts about it:

1. Green concrete comes in different colors

Green concrete does not have to be gray. In fact, since its ingredients do not include cement, manufacturers have experimented with substances that can add color to green concrete. So far, red and brown shades have already been achieved.

2. Green concrete is more durable than ordinary cement

Another benefit you get from using green concrete is durability; it has been found to last longer than ordinary cement, especially when used on roads and other structures that experience heavy traffic on a daily basis. In fact, studies show that road surfaces made out of green concrete last up to 30 years compared to ordinary surfaces that only last 3 years before they need repairs or replacement.

3. Green concrete is cheaper

Green concrete is a term given to a concrete that has had extra steps taken in the mix design and placement to insure a sustainable structure and a long life cycle with a low maintenance surface.

Green Concrete Has Less Impact on the Environment

Green concrete uses less cement, which reduces CO2 emissions by 1 ton per yard poured. This often requires the use of supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) such as fly ash, slag cement, silica fume, rice husk ash and natural pozzolans in combination with portland cement. This allows the designer to use less portland cement (a major contributor of CO2 emissions) while obtaining the desired performance from the concrete.

Green Concrete can be used for Structural or Decorative Applications

A wide variety of decorative green concrete finishes are available including acid stains, dyes, integral colors, and other various toppings and coatings. In addition to these finishes, green concrete can also be exposed aggregate or polished for a stunning final appearance.

Green Concrete Can be Used Indoors or Outdoors

For interior floors or exterior paving applications; green concrete achieves impressive performance characteristics with low maintenance requirements. Green concrete’s versatility makes it ideal for residential driveways and patios as well as commercial parking gar

1. Green concrete is made from recycled materials and can be recycled at the end of its life.

2. Green concrete has a carbon footprint of one-fifth that of traditional concrete.

3. The U.S. cement industry alone emits over 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, representing 6 percent of the nation’s total annual CO2 emissions, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

4. Green concrete significantly reduces the use of natural resources, including sand and aggregate, which are mined from quarries and river beds and then carried to building sites by trucks that consume fuel and emit CO2 (carbon dioxide).

5. The cement industry accounts for 5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

6. Traditional concrete production annually consumes enough energy worldwide to power a city the size of Philadelphia for almost 10 years and enough water to meet the daily needs of nearly 21 million Americans; green concrete cuts both energy use and water demand by as much as 50 percent, according to UNEP’s Global Resource Initiative (GRI) report “Concrete: Not So Solid.”

7. Because it uses less cement paste than traditional concrete, green concrete can be up to 20 percent stronger than its conventional counterpart

Green concrete (also called sustainable concrete) is a popular new topic in the construction industry. But what is it? Why is it important? And how can you use it in your next project?

Let’s start with the basics. What is green concrete? Green concrete is a type of concrete that uses less energy and creates fewer carbon dioxide emissions during production than other types of concrete. It also reduces waste, conserves natural resources, and helps to improve the environment.

Green concrete does all of this by replacing some traditional components with recycled materials and by increasing the efficiency of its production process. This means that when you use green concrete instead of regular concrete, you’re helping to protect and improve the environment for future generations.

Green concrete offers significant environmental benefits over regular and even high-strength concretes. The main reason for this is because green concrete uses less water, which means it requires less energy to produce. This also reduces the amount of wastewater generated during production and transportation of cementitious materials, as well as reducing carbon dioxide emissions from cement kilns.

Green concretes are made with recycled aggregates, which include fly ash or slag cement substituted for Portland cement at levels up to 100 percent; coarse aggregate derived from crushed stone or gravel; fine aggregate

1. Concrete is the most widely used material in the world.

2. Concrete is made from a mixture of cement, water and aggregate material (such as sand and gravel).

3. A typical concrete mix generates about five percent of the CO2 emissions that steel and 15 percent of those of aluminum manufacturing do, per ton, making it an environmentally friendly building material.

4. The strongest concrete ever made, with compressive strength approaching 200 MPa (pounds per square inch), was created by placing chemical additives known as superplasticizers into the mix to reduce the amount of water needed while maintaining workability.

5. New technologies are being developed to make concrete even stronger and more durable, as well as greener with less impact on the environment.

6. Self-healing concrete is one such new technology that when exposed to water or moisture may heal its own cracks, potentially reducing maintenance costs and extending the life of the structure.

7. Green concrete may also contain added recycled materials such as fly ash, glass fiber and rubber tire chips in addition to new materials such as volcanic rock and mineral wool (made from melting rocks at high temperatures) to improve its performance characteristics without compromising its environmental benefits.

8. Cement is produced