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Marciano, E J (2003) Sustainable development and the cement and concrete industries, Unpublished PhD Thesis, , Universite de Sherbrooke (Canada).

• Type: Thesis
• Keywords: private sector; uncertainty; concession; government; infrastructure project; investment; participation; partnership; project finance; public private partnerships; stakeholders; Portugal
• ISBN/ISSN:
• URL: https://www.proquest.com/docview/305267829
• Abstract:
  Sustainable development is an attempt to mitigate the environmental damages of the past, to adjust the present exacerbated superfluous pattern of consumption and the increasing social gaps between nations, in order to provide the future generations a fairer society living in a more healthy environment. Up to now climate changes has been the focus of the discussion, but sustainable development is a much broader issue. Just 20% of the world population has a high standard of living and consumes the greatest part of energy and raw materials and as a consequence generates the majority of CO2 emissions, the main greenhouse responsible for climate change. At the same time, 50% of the population earns less than $ 2 US a day gasping for sanitation, hospitals, schools, houses just to satisfy the minimum of dignity. In such a scenario the cement and concrete industries can play a key role either for solving social problems as for helping to mitigate the environment burden. Cement industry is often focused as a polluting industry, responsible for 6 % of world CO2 emissions, and concrete is frequently presented as a low technological added value product that generates around 1 billion tonnes of wastes per year. This is a common unfair perception that reveals a lack of information and adequate analysis. The cement industry experienced an extraordinary reduction in gas and dust emissions as well as energy saving rooted in significant technological investments in the seventies and eighties. Its CO2 emission is much lower than that of other industrial segments, such as transportation and progresses continue. At the same time millions of tonnes of industrial by products and wastes generated by other industrial sectors are consumed and valorized by the cement and concrete industries every year. As a construction material, concrete fulfils almost all the social and technological needs of societies. The spectrum of available concrete ranges from some MPa to 800 MPa, exhibiting high flowable properties or low noise when casting, showing good thermal performance at low cost, evidencing the immense technological progresses achieved in recent years. With the current available technology a much longer life cycle of concrete structures should be achieved. An infrastructure lasting longer will contribute to reduce waste generation and alleviate budgets to invest in other social requirements instead of “indefinitely paying” for rebuilding or repairing structures in benefit primarily of contractors. The sustainability in concrete industry can be reached by improving durability, even at somewhat higher initial costs, by conveniently enhancing the skills of labor force in the construction industry in order to reduce wasting, by using concrete in its whole potential such as a paving alternative, by disseminating the importance of quality concern, and finally by improving the recycling levels of concrete wastes. Pre-cast elements contribute also for reducing wasting, and the flexibility of the existing concrete technology allows good architectural projects Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to be carried on, as well as a more pleasant environment to be created using colored interlocked concrete blocks for example, contributing to reduce the stress in big cities. The cement industry has acquired enough development to reach in a short period a more sustainable production. The use of by products and waste derived fuel in the cement industry must increase worldwide, the optimization of industrial facilities is almost compulsory for the environment improvement and for the profit margin of companies. The gradual changing of old technology kilns into modern kilns with precalciners must be implemented. The main challenges for the cement industry are now how to face too stringent environmental regulations, the difficult and slow pace to get environmental permits and how to define a pragmatic and feasible program to upgrade cement kilns in some countries, mainly China and USA. This step involves significant financial investments and a delay o f at least 3 years before the start up of a new plant. The CO2 emissions can be substantially reduced by these already ongoing alternatives and they can be profitable for the cement industry. Moreover the possibility of CO2 emission trading can reinforce the search for an even higher reduction of this type of emissions as well as accelerate the required changes. Finally it must be taken into account that no progress will be achieved, despite all the available knowledge and technology, if ethic and volunteer commitment are not disseminated among authorities, companies and individuals. The recent emerging policy of social responsibility for companies is an encouraging step to reach a more fair society. Moreover the participation of associations, non governmental groups, media will synergistically contribute to the whole process of sustainability.