Green Concrete

AUTHOR: AU YONG THEAN SENG
www.madisonvelocity.blogspot.com
TOPICS HIGHLIGHTED
OVERVIEW – WHEN GREY TURNS GREEN
MAIN OBJECTIVE
FOUR WAYS TO PRODUCE GREEN CONCRETE
COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND GREEN CONCRETE
DIFFERENT MIXTURE’S EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
GREEN LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE CASE STUDY
PERVIOUS CONCRETE – IT DRAINS WHEN IT RAINS

OVERVIEW – WHEN GREY TURNS GREEN
There is a need for the reader to differentiate between green buildings with green
concrete. Green building is a definition to describe the environmental effect
caused from the building itself which includes architect’s design. Whereas the
green concrete is a type of concrete which resembles the conventional
concrete but the production or usage of such concrete requires minimum
amount of energy and causes least harm to the environment. There is
considerable knowledge about how to produce concrete with lower
environmental impact, the so-called green concrete.
The concrete industry realised at an early stage that it is a good idea to be in

front with regard to documenting the actual environmental aspects and working
on improving the environment, rather than being forced to deal with
environmental aspects due to demands from authorities, customers and
economic effects such as imposed taxes. Furthermore, some companies in
concrete industry have recognised that reductions in production costs often go
hand in hand with reductions in environmental impacts. Thus, environmental
aspects are not only interesting from an ideological point of view, but also from
an economic aspect. The knowledge and experience, about how to produce
concrete with lower environmental impacts can be divided into two groups,
concrete mix design and cement and concrete production:
Concrete mix design:
o using cement with reduced environmental impacts

o minimising cement content
o substituting cement with pozzolanic materials such as fly ash and micro
silica
o recycling of aggregate
o recycling of water
Cement and concrete production:
o environmental management
Concrete mixture design
The type and amount of cement has a major influence on the environmental
properties of a concrete. An example of this is shown in figure 1, where the
energy consumption in MJ/kg of a concrete edge beam through all the life
cycle phases is illustrated. The energy consumption of cement production make
up more than 90 % of the total energy consumption of all constituent materials
and approx. 1/3 of the total life cycle energy consumption.
Figure 1 : Energy consumption of an edge beam design
By selecting a cement type with reduced environmental impacts and by

minimising the amount of cement the concrete’s environmental properties are
drastically changed. This must, however, be done whilst still taking account of the
technical requirements of the concrete for the type and amount of cement.
One method of minimising the cement content in a concrete mix is by using

packing calculations to determine the optimum composition of the aggregate. A
high level of aggregate packing reduces the cavities between the aggregates,
and thereby the need for cement paste. This results in better concrete properties
and a better environmental profile, due to a smaller amount of cement. When
having experimentally determined the packing, the density, and the grain size
distribution of each aggregate material, it is possible to calculate the packing of
any combination of aggregates using computer program,
Another way of minimising the cement content in a concrete is to substitute

parts of the cement with other pozzolanic materials. In Denmark, it is
common to produce concrete with fly ash and/or micro silica fume. Both of
these materials are residual products (from production of electricity and
production of silicon, respectively) and both have a pozzolanic effect. Thus, a
material with large environmental impact, i.e. the cement, is substituted with
materials with reduced environmental impacts. The restrictions on adding fly ash
and micro silica fume laid down in the future concrete materials standard will be
as shown in table 1.
Extra
Passive Moderate Average
aggressive
environmental environmental environmental
environmental
class class class
class
Maximum content
of F+M from C+F+M x 35 25 25
(%)
Maximum content
of M from C+F+M x 10 10 10
(%)
C = Cement, F = Flyash, M = Micro Silica Fume
Environmental classes:
Passive: dry atmosphere with no risk of corrosion.
Moderate: moist atmosphere, with no risk of frost combined with water saturation, and with no significant
alkaline and/or chloride influence on the concrete surface.
Aggressive: moist atmosphere, with significant alkaline and/or chloride influence on the concrete surface or
where there is risk of water saturation combined with frost.
Extra Aggressive: moist atmosphere, with significant alkaline or/and chloride influence or layering on the
concrete surface
Table 1 : Requirements on the content of fly ash and micro silica according to the future
concrete materials standard.
In order to reduce the consumption of raw materials and to minimise the waste
generated from demolished concrete structures, surplus, and production errors,
crushed concrete can be reused as aggregate. It is expected that the use of
recycled aggregate in concrete, for passive environmental class will be allowed.
Also recycled water, initially used for washing out the aggregates from surplus
concrete and cleaning the production equipment, is expected to be allowed in the
new concrete standard.
Cement and concrete production
It is also possible to reduce a concrete’s environmental impact by reducing the

environmental impacts in cement and concrete production. The cement
manufacturer has many activities concerned with the reduction of environmental
impacts. As regards concrete production, experience with reductions of
primarily water consumption, energy consumption and waste production is
available. Even though the contribution of concrete production to a concrete’s
environmental profile is minor, it does give a contribution, and it is important -
environmentally and economically - to the single concrete producer.
MAIN OBJECTIVE
It has been defined that a number of alternative environmental requirements with

which green concrete structures must comply to. These goals are in accordance
with Danish environmental strategies, e.g. the goal for CO2 emission is in
accordance with the Danish obligations at the Kyoto agreement (21% reduction
before 2012 compared to the 1990 level):
o CO2 emissions shall be reduced by at least 30%.

o At least 20% of the concrete shall be residual products used as
aggregate.
o Use of concrete industry’s own residual products.
o Use of new types of residual products, previously land-filled or
disposed of in other ways.
o CO2 neutral waste-derived fuels shall replace at least 10% of the fossil
fuels in cement production.
The technical goals for the centre are to obtain the same technical properties for
the green concrete compared to conventional concrete – or to determine in what
way the properties differ. The compressive strength goals for the green
concrete are:
o Aggressive environmental class (outdoor, horizontal): 28-day strength

> 35 MPa and 56-day strength > 85% of the strength of a reference
concrete.
o Passive environmental class (indoor): 28-day strength >12 MPa and
56-day strength > 85% of the strength of a reference concrete.
FOUR WAYS TO PRODUCE GREEN CONCRETE
Four ways to produce green concrete are being investigated, see Figure 2:
1. To increase the use of conventional residual products, i.e. fly ash.

2. To use residual products from the concrete industry, i.e. stone dust (from
crushing of aggregate) and concrete slurry (from washing of mixers and
other equipment).
3. To use residual products from other industries not traditionally used in
concrete, i.e. fly ash from bio fuels and sewage sludge incineration ash
(from sewage treatment plants).
4. To use new types of cement with reduced environmental impact.
Residual
products from Sewage sludge
other industries incineration ash
Flyash from bio fuels
Residual
Stone dust
Conventional products from the
Concrete slurry
concrete, concrete industry
conventional
cement, flyash, Conventional
and micro silica Large quantities of fly
cement, flyash
ash
and micro silica
Cement with
reduced Mineralised cement
environmental Limestone addition
impact Waste-derived fuels
Figure 2: Overview – concrete development in the Centre for Green Concrete. New types of
cement and binder can be utilised in combination with the residual products
All the above mentioned green concrete types will be tested for workability,
changes in the workability after 30 minutes, air content, compressive
strength development, E-modules, heat development, homogeneity, water
separation, setting, density, and pump-ability. Furthermore, the water/cement
ratio, water/binder ratio, and the chloride content will be calculated. From the
tests, the most promising green concrete will be selected and exposed to more
advanced testing.
COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND GREEN CONCRETE
1): DENSIT® = Cement and micro silica based material providing high density and high
compressive strength (150-300 MPa)
2): CRC® = Compact Reinforced Concrete which contains a high amount of steel fibre providing
high ductility and compressive strength (150-400 MPa)
*): without traditional waterproofing membrane
**): designation used for the environmental screening
Table 2: Alternative designs with requires different maintenance/repair used for the
assessment of environmental effects of concrete bridges
An environmental screening has been performed for a column presenting the

different design principles as described in Table 2 (green concrete columns
defined as A, B, C). For comparison, the same environmental screening has
been performed for a reference column (traditional concrete column defined as
R), which is similar to column A, except that the green concrete type being
substituted by a traditional concrete suitable for aggressive environment. The
objective of the screening is to identify significant resource consumption
and environmental loads of traditional concrete/design compared to green
concrete/design occurring during the entire service life, this includes the
environmentally viewed most critical maintenance/repair stage.
The performed lifecycle screenings quantify material usage (consumption of

concrete) as well as CO2 emissions generated at the involved stages during
the lifecycle of the columns. The input data for the comparison are given in
Table A1, Appendix A. In order to limit the analysis to a minimum, the
environmental screening comprises only those issues where the environmental

impacts of the green concrete columns differ from those of the traditional one
(see Table A1). The environmental parameters related to the working
environment have not been included. The results of the environmental screening
for the 3 green concrete columns (A, B, C) and the traditional concrete
column (R) is presented in Table 3 with regard to the CO2-emission and in
Table 4 with regard to the consumption of concrete.
Design solution Column R Column A Column B Column C
Traditional
Increased Stainless steel Stainless steel
design +
concrete cover + reinforcement + cladding + green
traditional
green concrete green concrete concrete
concrete
kg CO2 per year 300 200 86 80
Table 3 : CO2 emission for different designs of concrete column
Figure 3 : Sources of CO2 emission for four types of columns
Column Column Column Column

Design solution
R A B C
kg concrete for construction 5102 5733 5102 5102
kg concrete for maintenance/repair 1533 2442 0 0
kg concrete, total 6635 8175 5102 5102
Table 4 : Consumption of concrete for different designs of concrete columns

This comparison demonstrates that column B (stainless steel reinforcement)

and column C (stainless steel cladding) present the most environmental-
friendly design solutions both with regard to the CO2 emissions and the
consumption of concrete. An even more environmental-friendly solution is if the
selected concrete at column C would be substituted by a more environmental-
friendly (greener) concrete type provided that the steel cladding assures the long-
term protection of the reinforced concrete.
DIFFERENT MIXTURE’S EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
The investigation includes five green types of concrete. In addition, a

reference concrete, AR, is included in the test programme. AR is a normal
Danish concrete intended for aggressive environment. AR is produced with extra
low alkali, highly sulphate resistant cement, a moderate fly ash content as well of
a moderate content of silica fume.
The five green types of concretes are:
A0 Concrete with low alkali, moderate sulphate resistant cement. Change of

cement type lowers the energy consumption of cement production. The
same cement type is used for A1 and A3. A0 fulfils DS481, but not the
specification of the Danish Road Directorate.
A1 Concrete with a high amount of fly ash (40%)
A3 Concrete with sewage sludge incineration ash instead of ordinary fly ash
A5 Concrete with concrete slurry
A6 Concrete with stone dust
Environmental goal AO A1 A3 A5 A6
(Yes) (Yes ) (Yes)
CO2 reduction
27% 52% 29%
Residual products as aggregates Yes
Residual products from the concrete industry Yes Yes
Residual products from other sources Yes
(Yes) (Yes) (Yes )
Waste-derived fuel
9% 9% 9%
Table 5 : Evaluation of environmental goals

GREEN LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE CASE STUDY
A paper done by Tommy Y. Lo and H.Z. Cui from Department of Building and
Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong discusses the
mechanical properties of a newly developed structural lightweight aggregate
which is made from expanded clay. The aggregate is reinforced with a PFA rich
surface coating applied at a later stage of firing. The experience of utilizing this
green lightweight aggregate concrete in the prefabrication of structural
element is also presented. The structural lightweight aggregate was used to
develop precast concrete elements (façade) for green construction. The
mix proportion used is given in Table 6.
Cement Water Sand Aggregate (pre-wetted) Admixture

420 175 715 630 1000ml
3
Table 6 : Mix proportion of green lightweight concrete (kg/m )
Figure 4 : A good workable fresh concrete for concrete casting. The slump of lightweight
concrete measured 30 minutes after batching was 50 mm.
Figure 5 : Protocol of finished lightweight concrete precast façade
Specification Façade quality

Unit weight 2275 kg 1590 kg
1 day strength 15MPa 14.5MPa
28 days 30MPa 34MPa
Slump 75mm 50mm
Density 2400kg.m3 1750kg/m3
Table 7 : Comparison of design requirement with conventional concrete production
PERVIOUS CONCRETE – IT DRAINS WHEN IT RAINS
One of the examples of a green concrete is

pervious concrete. Known for its ability in
storm water management, it’s one of the
major breakthroughs in green concrete design.
Pervious concrete is a mix of coarse
aggregate, cement, water, and little to no sand.
Also known as “no-fines” or porous concrete,
this mixture creates an open-cell structure,
allowing rainwater to filter through to underlying
soil. By modelling natural ground cover,
pervious concrete is an excellent choice for
storm water management.
Pervious Concrete: The Environmentally Sound Choice
Storm water runoff can send as much as 90% of the pollutant such as oil and
other hydrocarbon liquids found on the surface of traditional parking lots directly
into our rivers and streams. Pervious concrete has been recognized as a best
management practice to address this most vital environmental concern. The
open-cell structure of pervious concrete provides a medium for aerobic bacteria
that break down many of the pollutants that seep from parked cars.
Pervious concrete also contributes to enhanced air quality by lowering

atmospheric heating through lighter colour and lower density, decreasing
the impact of heat island effects. The heat island effect occurs when tree-covered
areas are replaced with dark pavement surfaces, and is characterized by up to a
12-degree average temperature increase between an urban area and its
surrounding countryside. This heat island effect increases ground level ozone
production by as much as 30%. Concrete surfaces, both pervious and
conventional, have a much higher albedo, a measure of reflectance than
competitive paving materials. Specifications requiring a minimum surface
albedo are becoming increasingly popular. The inherently light colour of concrete
naturally reflects heat and light. Studies have shown as much as a 30% savings
in lighting costs over other pavement types due to concrete pavement’s
reflectivity.
Benefits of Pervious Concrete
“Storm water runoff occurs

when rain falls. This runoff
causes increased pollution in
rivers and streams, flash
floods, and loss of rainwater
that could otherwise replenish
water tables and aquifers.
Pervious concrete has a 15-25%
void structure and allows 3–8
gallons of water per minute to
pass through each square
foot—accounting for far more
than is generated during most
rain events. Pervious concrete
puts rainwater back in the
ground where it belongs.”
o Reduces storm water runoff
o Eliminates the need for detention ponds and other costly storm water
management practices
o Replenishes water tables and aquifers
o Allows for more efficient land development
o Minimizes flash flooding and standing water
o Prevents warm and polluted water from entering streams
o Mitigates surface pollutants

What You Want to Know About Pervious Concrete?
Q: What about freeze-thaw issues?
A: Pervious concrete has been placed in freeze-thaw climates for over 15 years.
Successful applications of pervious concrete in freeze-thaw environments have
two common design features—the cement paste is air-entrained, and the
pervious concrete is placed on 6–12 inches of drainable aggregate base
(3/4” or larger clean gravel).
Q: What about clogging?
A: Clogging problems are mainly an issue of design. If a natural area with grass
or exposed soil is allowed to drain storm water across a pervious concrete
pavement, fine material can be introduced into the system causing localized
clogging. Vegetative matter can collect on the surface of the pervious concrete
causing some clogging, but routine sweeping or vacuuming will restore porosity.
Studies have been conducted that indicate
pressure washing will restore most of
the porosity of clogged pervious concrete
to nearly new conditions.
Q: What other uses are there for

pervious concrete?
A: Pervious concrete has been successfully

used for low volume streets, driveways,
sidewalks, golf cart paths, retaining
walls, slope protection, and French
drains. Pervious concrete can be utilized in
a variety of paving applications to provide
landscape without altering hydrology of the
land.

Green Concrete

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Green Concrete

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AUTHOR: AU YONG THEAN SENG

OVERVIEW – WHEN GREY TURNS GREEN

FOUR WAYS TO PRODUCE GREEN CONCRETE

COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND GREEN CONCRETE

DIFFERENT MIXTURE’S EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT

GREEN LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE CASE STUDY

PERVIOUS CONCRETE – IT DRAINS WHEN IT RAINS

OVERVIEW – WHEN GREY TURNS GREEN

The concrete industry realised at an early stage that it is a good idea to be in

Concrete mix design:

o using cement with reduced environmental impacts

Cement and concrete production:

Concrete mixture design

Figure 1 : Energy consumption of an edge beam design

By selecting a cement type with reduced environmental impacts and by

One method of minimising the cement content in a concrete mix is by using

Another way of minimising the cement content in a concrete is to substitute

Cement and concrete production

It is also possible to reduce a concrete’s environmental impact by reducing the

It has been defined that a number of alternative environmental requirements with

o CO2 emissions shall be reduced by at least 30%.

o Aggressive environmental class (outdoor, horizontal): 28-day strength

FOUR WAYS TO PRODUCE GREEN CONCRETE

1. To increase the use of conventional residual products, i.e. fly ash.

COMPARISON BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND GREEN CONCRETE

An environmental screening has been performed for a column presenting the

The performed lifecycle screenings quantify material usage (consumption of

environmental screening comprises only those issues where the environmental

Design solution Column R Column A Column B Column C

kg CO2 per year 300 200 86 80

Table 3 : CO2 emission for different designs of concrete column

Figure 3 : Sources of CO2 emission for four types of columns

Column Column Column Column

Table 4 : Consumption of concrete for different designs of concrete columns

This comparison demonstrates that column B (stainless steel reinforcement)

DIFFERENT MIXTURE’S EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT

The investigation includes five green types of concrete. In addition, a

The five green types of concretes are:

A0 Concrete with low alkali, moderate sulphate resistant cement. Change of

Table 5 : Evaluation of environmental goals

GREEN LIGHTWEIGHT AGGREGATE CONCRETE CASE STUDY

Cement Water Sand Aggregate (pre-wetted) Admixture

Figure 5 : Protocol of finished lightweight concrete precast façade

Specification Façade quality

PERVIOUS CONCRETE – IT DRAINS WHEN IT RAINS

One of the examples of a green concrete is

Pervious Concrete: The Environmentally Sound Choice

Pervious concrete also contributes to enhanced air quality by lowering

Benefits of Pervious Concrete

“Storm water runoff occurs

o Reduces storm water runoff

o Replenishes water tables and aquifers

o Allows for more efficient land development

o Minimizes flash flooding and standing water

o Prevents warm and polluted water from entering streams

o Mitigates surface pollutants

What You Want to Know About Pervious Concrete?

Q: What about freeze-thaw issues?

Q: What about clogging?

Q: What other uses are there for

A: Pervious concrete has been successfully

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