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March 18, 2010  |  Login
Change Your Concrete Mix
By Eric Corey Freed
 
Every construction project uses concrete in one way or another. Concrete is a mixture of sand, water, stone, and Portland cement. The cement is the key ingredient in concrete — acting as the binding agent — but it requires a great deal of energy from mining, grinding up, and heating. Cement production alone is responsible for 5% to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. 

Fly Ash

Replace up to 50% of the Portland cement in your concrete with fly ash. Fly ash is the fine powder residue by-product from coal-fired, electric-generating plants. Because the burning of coal provides up to 85% of your electricity (depending on where you live), a great deal of fly ash is produced.

Currently, the fly ash is released into the air, buried in a landfill, or illegally dumped into the ocean. All this leaks mercury into the food supply. But you can take this waste product and use it to substitute for 20% to 50% of the Portland cement in the concrete mix, which not only reduces the amount of fly ash released into the environment, but reduces the expenditure of energy on mining, grinding up, and heating Portland cement.

 
 

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