Concrete is one of our biggest decarbonisation challenges – here’s what SmartCrete CRC is doing to get us there

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Concrete is the second most used material in the world after water, and its production process accounts for 8 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

That’s a big challenge right up front. But more important is that we will continue to use vast amounts of it because of its reliability for structural integrity. As emissions rise, decarbonising concrete is urgent but also one of the most complex sustainability solutions that need to be found.

This is the work that the SmartCrete Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) is tasked with.

The CRC has received $21 million in federal funding to invest in research and development projects and turn them into real-world commercial possibilities. It recently launched a new funding round, which closes on 9 September 2024.

Why is concrete such a big deal?

According to SmartCrete CRC chief executive officer Clare Tubolets, there are good reasons why we use so much concrete. It’s strong, durable and resistant to water, wind, fire, rust, and vibrations from earthquakes and other hazards. It’s relatively cheap and easy to produce, being made from commonly available materials – a mix of cement, sand, gravel and water.

Smartcrete CRC chief executive officer Clare Tubolets
It’s also an incredibly versatile building material that has the unique ability to be shaped into almost anything. These characteristics make concrete one of the world’s safest, most widely used and longest-lasting building materials.

Its use in buildings and infrastructure such as bridges means engineers are conservative in their specifications of the material and “for good reason”, Tubolets says. They’re not likely to be swayed by new material components in concrete until these are proven to be just as safe and reliable as the original product.

“We want to make sure that all of our infrastructure survives and performs in the way that you would expect it to under all of the various codes that we have.

“So when we’re talking about innovation in materials, there’s a big question about how those materials are going to perform over 50 to 100 years. How do we make sure that they actually do stay up, because a failure in infrastructure has the potential to be catastrophic.”

This is “necessary conservatism”, Tubolets says, and it’s something that can “really hamper the drive towards adoption of new lower carbon products and processes.”

Yet, there is exciting work underway.

Read the full article, published by The Green List, here.