By Suzana We’re living in a world where there is an ever-increasing focus on the carbon footprint of everything, from our individual habits to whole industries. This is happening for a good reason as the effects of climate change are becoming more apparent and costly. Every sector is being encouraged to do its part in adapting for a cleaner, sustainable future.
Carbon Neutral
The construction industry has played a significant role in its contribution to climate change, mostly due to the emissions of carbon dioxide, unavoidable industrial waste, and other byproducts that come from the manufacturing of so many materials and products. Even companies that want to make a greener change know that environmental costs are hard to avoid.
Just as science enables many manufacturing capabilities, it can also help us develop ways to prevent such a significant contribution to CO2 output and other pollutants. The solution could be in allowing materials to trap more carbon dioxide than they emit.
It’s All About The Alkaline
Studies have found that an increased amount of alkaline in building materials can help them to trap the gas and cut down the emissions that result. This is still a work in progress but in the future, we could see much more environmentally friendly building materials.
There are many great companies such as Superior Washer Company, that can be found at superiorwasher.com, that make building materials such as fender flat washers or standard fender washers. Such companies in the future might be using machines and materials that are a lot more carbon friendly.
It’s Not Just The Materials
While alkaline materials will be a great step, becoming carbon neutral can’t be achieved unless construction companies use renewable energy. This is only a small part of the responsibility though as governments also need to prioritize renewable energy sources.
We have seen an increase in renewable energy but many will argue that it’s not moving quickly enough. You have plenty of solar power and hydroelectric power but it’s still only a small percentage of the overall power output available.
Construction companies can try and generate their own energy but a large part of it still comes from conventional sources like coal. Only when that power originates primarily from sun, wind, or water power, can we start to think of such industries as having the potential to be carbon neutral
Won’t Happen Overnight
Clearly, this isn’t going to be a quick change. There is still skepticism about the effects of climate change, despite scientists being almost unanimous in their belief that human actions are partly to blame for the current change of world temperature.
It does appear though that there is going to be a future when construction companies are going to be able to become carbon neutral. For an industry that has so frequently contributed to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it gives a lot of hope that even more industries will show an increased enthusiasm for being carbon neutral.