The True Impacts of Concrete Floors Concrete Floors Company

Cement production is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes. Including direct fuel use for mining and transporting raw materials, cement production takes about six million Btus for every ton of cement. The industry’s heavy reliance on coal leads to especially high emission levels of CO 2, nitrous oxide, and sulphur, among other pollutants.
Energy Used
Producing the roughly 80 million tons of cement used in the US in 1992 required more than 500 trillion Btus, representing roughly .6% of total U.S. energy for the entire year. This is remarkable given that in dollar value cement represents only about .06% of the US gross national product. This means that cement production is nearly ten times as energy intensive as our entire economy as a whole. In some Third World countries, cement production accounts for as much as two-thirds of total energy use, according to the Worldwatch Institute.
Recent studies suggest that as much as 12% of all carbon emmissions on the planet come from the mining, processing and transportation of concrete.

Waste Produced
Concrete produces a wide variety of pollutants, from harmful chemicals released during its mining and processing to mountains of solid waste resulting from construction, rennovation and demolition. In addition to the metals and toxins released in refining, concrete plants also consume nearly 500 gallons of water per truck per day and the alkalinity levels of this washwater is as high as pH 12.
Concrete also is the largest and most visible component of construction and demolition waste. According to estimates presented in the AIA Environmental Resource Guide, concrete accounts for up to 67% by weight of waste, 53% by volume. Only 5% of concrete is recycled, and most of that is used as a highway substrate or as clean fill around buildings.


	The True Impacts of Concrete Floors	Concrete Floors Company
	Cement production is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes. Including direct fuel use for mining and transporting raw materials, cement production takes about six million Btus for every ton of cement. The industry’s heavy reliance on coal leads to especially high emission levels of CO 2, nitrous oxide, and sulphur, among other pollutants. Energy Used Producing the roughly 80 million tons of cement used in the US in 1992 required more than 500 trillion Btus, representing roughly .6% of total U.S. energy for the entire year. This is remarkable given that in dollar value cement represents only about .06% of the US gross national product. This means that cement production is nearly ten times as energy intensive as our entire economy as a whole. In some Third World countries, cement production accounts for as much as two-thirds of total energy use, according to the Worldwatch Institute. Recent studies suggest that as much as 12% of all carbon emmissions on the planet come from the mining, processing and transportation of concrete.
	Waste Produced Concrete produces a wide variety of pollutants, from harmful chemicals released during its mining and processing to mountains of solid waste resulting from construction, rennovation and demolition. In addition to the metals and toxins released in refining, concrete plants also consume nearly 500 gallons of water per truck per day and the alkalinity levels of this washwater is as high as pH 12. Concrete also is the largest and most visible component of construction and demolition waste. According to estimates presented in the AIA Environmental Resource Guide, concrete accounts for up to 67% by weight of waste, 53% by volume. Only 5% of concrete is recycled, and most of that is used as a highway substrate or as clean fill around buildings.