GREEN CONCRETE: EFFICIENT & ECO-FRIENDLY CONSTRUCTION

MATERIALS
BY-ANKIT KUMAR
ROLL No.-1204200011
1. INTRODUCTION
Green concrete is a revolutionary topic in the history of concrete industry. This was first
invented in Denmark in the year 1998. Green concrete has nothing to do with colour. It is
a concept of thinking environment into concrete considering every aspect from raw
materials manufacture over mixture design to structural design, construction, and service
life. Green concrete is very often also cheap to produce, because, for example, waste
products are used as a partial substitute for cement, charges for the disposal of waste are
avoided, energy consumption in production is lower, and durability is greater. 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.
The CO2 emission related to concrete production, inclusive of cement production, is
between 0.1 and 0.2 t per tonne of produced concrete. However, since the total amount of
concrete produced is so vast the absolute figures for the environmental impact are quite
significant, due to the large amounts of cement and concrete produced. Since concrete is
the second most consumed entity after water it accounts for around 5% of the worlds
total CO2 emission (Ernst Worrell, 2001). The solution to this environmental problem is
not to substitute concrete for other materials but to reduce the environmental impact of
concrete and cement. Pravin Kumar et al, 2003, used quarry rock dust along with fly ash
and micro silica and reported satisfactory properties.
The potential environmental benefit to society of being able to build with green concrete
is huge. It is realistic to assume that technology can be developed, which can halve the
CO2 emission related to concrete production. With the large consumption of concrete this
will potentially reduce the worlds total CO2 emission by 1.5-2%. Concrete can also be
the solution to environmental problems other than those related to CO2 emission. It may
be possible to use residual products from other industries in the concrete production
while still maintaining a high concrete quality. During the last few decades society has
become aware of the deposit problems connected with residual products, and demands,
restrictions and taxes have been imposed. And as it is known that several residual
products have properties suited for concrete production, there is a large potential in
investigating the possible use of these for concrete production. Well-known residual
products such as silica fume and fly ash may be mentioned.

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.
1.1. Environmental Goals
Green Concrete is expected to fulfil the following environmental obligations:
Reduction of CO2 emissions by 21 %. This is in accordance with the Kyoto
Protocol of 1997.
Increase the use of inorganic residual products from industries other than the
concrete industry by approx. 20%.
Reduce the use of fossil fuels by increasing the use of waste derived fuels in the
cement industry.
The recycling capacity of the green concrete must not be less compared to
existing concrete types.
The production and the use of green concrete must not deteriorate the working
environment.
The structures do not impose much harm to the environment during their service
life.
2. GENESIS
Considering the time elapsed since the commencement of the use of concrete, green
concrete is very young a material. It was invented in 1998 in Denmark.
The increasing awareness and activity to conserve the environment and the realisation
that concrete production too releases a considerable amount of CO2 in the atmosphere
were strong initiatives to catalyse the genesis of Green Concrete.
In 1997, the Kyoto Conference took place, in which several countries, after deliberating
over the then environmental conditions laid down several guidelines which would be the
directive principles to the participating countries on their environment related practices.
The guidelines Kyoto Protocol, as they are called, needed the countries to cut down
their CO2 emissions to a certain degree as assigned. The given goal has to be achieved by
the year 2012. Since then several countries started to focus on several available options
but Denmark focused on cement and concrete production because approximately 2% of
Denmarks total CO2 emission stems from cement and concrete production.

Realising the necessity of such a technology and the prospects associated the Danish
government soon released a proposal. The proposal is in accordance with the
International and European Conventions and Protocol, with the nationally agreed goals
that comply with these. An important aspect is Denmarks obligation to reduce the CO2emission as previously mentioned. The proposal covers the following environmental
aspects: Greenhouse effect, depletion of the ozone layer, photochemical oxidation,
eutrophication, acidification, materials harmful to the environment and health, water and
resources. The above mentioned priorities were included in a large Danish projects about
cleaner technologies in the life cycle of concrete products. Furthermore, priorities have
been made for the other participating countries, i.e. Greece, Italy, and The Netherlands,
and for Europe and the International World. Although there are differences in the political
environmental priorities, all agree that five environmental impacts given highest priority
are:
CO2
Energy
Water
Waste
Pollutants
These, coupled with the cost reduction benefits allured the concrete producers to
incorporate green concrete into their paradigm.
Cement and concrete may have an important role to play in enabling the developed
countries to fulfil their obligation to reduce the total CO2 emission by 21 % compared to
the 1990-level before 2012, as agreed at the Kyoto conference. This is because the
volume of concrete consumption is large. Approx. 1 m3 of concrete per capita are
produced annually globally. The CO2 emission related to concrete production, inclusive
of cement production, is between 0.1-0.2 tons per ton produced concrete. This
corresponds to a total quantity of CO2 emission of 0.6 - 1.2 m tons per year.
Approximately 5% of worlds total CO2 emission stems from cement and concrete
production.
The potential environmental benefit to society of being able to build with green concrete
is huge. It is realistic to assume that technology can be developed which can halve the
CO2 emission related to concrete production. With the large consumption of concrete this
will potentially reduce Denmarks total CO2 emission by 0.5 % (Glavind, 2000). The
somewhat soft demands in the form of environmental obligations result in rather specific
technical requirements for the industry - including the concrete industry. These technical
requirements include among others new concrete mix designs, new raw materials, and
new knowledge (practical experience and technical models) about the properties of the
new raw materials and concrete mix designs.

Due to growing interest in sustainable development engineers and architects were

motivated more than ever before to choose concrete that is more sustainable. However
this is not as straight forward as selecting an energy star rated appliance or a vehicle
providing high gas mileage. On what measurement basis can engineers and architects
compare materials and choose one that is more sustainable or specify a material in such a
way as to minimize environmental impact?
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) seems to offer a solution. LCA considers materials over
the course of their entire life cycle including material extraction, manufacturing,
construction, operations, and finally reuse/recycling. LCA takes into account a full range
of environmental impact indicatorsincluding embodied energy, air and water pollution
(including greenhouse gases), potable water consumption, solid waste and recycled
content just to name a few. Building rating systems such as LEED and Green Globes are
in various stages of incorporating LCA so that they can help engineers and architects
select materials based on their environmental performance or specify materials in such a
way as to minimize environmental impact.
Every 1 ton of cement produced leads to about 0.9 tons of CO2 emissions and a typical
cubic yard (0.7643 m3 ) of concrete contains about 10% by weight of cement. There have
been a number of articles written about reducing the CO2 emissions from concrete
primarily through the use of lower amounts of cement and higher amounts of
supplementary cementitious material (SCM) such as fly ash and slag. Table 1 has been
developed based on data presented by Marceau et al, 2002.

Table 1 Total CO2 emissions for 1 cubic yard (yd3 ) + of concrete for different
strength classes and mixture proportions5
Ready
Mix
Id

Strength
Class psi
(kgf/cm2 )

Mixture
Proportions*
lb/yd3
(kg/m3 )

Total
CO2
emission
lb/yd3
(kg/m3 )

Breakdown of CO2 emissions for 1 yd3 ,

% (0.76455 m3 )
Cement SCM Aggregate
Plant
Operations Transport

5000(351)

4000(281)

3000(210)

3000(210)

3000(210)

3000(210)

3000(210)

564/0/0
(335/0/0)
470/0/0
(279/0/0)
376/0/0
(223/0/0)
301/75/0
(179/44/0)
282/94/0
(167/56/0)
244/0/132
(145/0/78)
188/0/188
(111/0/111)

528
(313)
442
(262)
355
(211)
288
(171)
270
(160)
239
(142)
189
(112)

96.8%

0%

0.6%

0.6%

2.0%

96.3%

0%

0.7%

0.7%

2.3%

95.7%

0%

0.9%

0.8%

2.6%

94.6%

0%

1.1%

1.0%

3.2%

94.3%

0%

1.2%

1.1%

3.4%

92.4%

1.2%

1.4%

1.2%

3.9%

89.8%

2.1%

1.7%

1.6%

4.9%

*564/0/0 signifies that the mixture contains 564 lb/yd3 cement, 0 lb/yd3 fly ash, 0 lb/yd3
slag cement #Transport costs is for material shipped to ready mix plant +1 yd3 = 0.76455
m3
The following observations can be made:
Since a cubic yard of concrete weighs about 2 tons, CO2 emissions from 1 ton
of concrete varies between 0.05 to 0.13 tons.
Approximately 95% of all CO2 emissions from a cubic yard of concrete are
from cement manufacturing and so it is no wonder that much attention is paid to
using greater amounts of SCM hence use green concrete.
3. ADVANTAGES OF GREEN CONCRETE
Green concrete has manifold advantages over the conventional concrete. Since it uses the
recycled aggregates and materials, it reduces the extra load in landfills and mitigates the
wastage of aggregates. Thus, the net CO2 emissions are reduced. The reuse of materials
also contributes intensively to economy. Since the waste materials like aggregates from a
nearby area and fly ash from a nearby power plant are not much expensive and also
transport costs are minimal.
Green concrete can be considered elemental to sustainable development since it is ecofriendly itself. Green concrete is being widely used in green building practices. It also
helps the green buildings achieve LEED and Golden Globe certifications. Use of fly ash
in the concrete also increases its workability and many other properties like durability to
an appreciable extent. One of the practices to manufacture green concrete involves
reduction of amount cement in the mix, this practice helps in reducing the consumption
of cement overall. The use waste materials also solve the problem of disposing the
excessive amount industrial wastes
There are several other advantages related to green concrete and can be summarized as
below:
a) Reduced CO2 emissions.
b) Low production costs as wastes directly substitute the cement.
c) Saves energy, emissions and waste water.

d) Helps in recycling industry wastes.

e) Reduces the consumption of cement overall.
f) Better workability.
g) Sustainable development.
h) Greater strength and durability than normal concrete.
i) Compressive strength and Flexural behaviour is fairly equal to that of the
conventional concrete.
j) Green concrete might solve some of the societies problems with the use of
inorganic, residual products which should otherwise be deposited.
4. METHODS TO PRODUCE GREEN CONCRETE
4.1. Desirable properties in green concrete
Today, it is already possible to produce and cast very green concrete. Even a super green
type of concrete without cement but with, for example, 300 kg of fly ash instead can be
produced and cast without any changes in the production equipment. But this concrete
will not develop strength, and it will of course not be durable. Therefore, the concrete
must include aspects of performance like:
a) Mechanical properties (strength, shrinkage, creep, static behaviour etc.)
b) Fire resistance (heat transfer, etc.)
c) Workmanship (workability, strength development, curing, etc.)
d) Durability (corrosion protection, frost, new deterioration mechanisms, etc.)
e) Environmental impact (how green is the new concrete?).
Meeting these requirements is not an easy task, and all must be reached at the same time
if constructors are to be tempted to prescribe green concrete. A constructor would not
normally prescribe green concrete if the performance is lower than normal, for example,
a reduced service life. The new technology will therefore need to develop concretes with
all properties as near normal as possible.
4.2. Energy consumption during the production

4.2.1. Energy consumption in concrete mix 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 2, where the energy consumption in
mega joules per kilogram of a concrete edge beam through all its 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 approximately one-third of the
total life cycle energy consumption. By selecting a cement type with reduced
environmental impact, and by minimizing the amount of cement, the environmental
properties of the concrete are drastically changed. This must, however, be done while still
taking account of the technical requirements of the concrete for the type and amount of
cement. One method of minimizing 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.

Another way of minimising the cement content in a concrete is to substitute parts of the
cement with other pozzolanic materials. It is common to produce concrete with fly ash
and/or micro silica. 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. Although there is no guideline given by
the BIS on the addition of above components, the Danish Standards have laid down
certain restrictions as given in Table 2
.

Table 2 Requirements for the contents of fly ash and microsilica according to the
Danish concrete materials standard (%)

Max content
F+M from
C+F+M (%)
Max content
M from

Mild
Environmental
Class

Moderate
Environmental
Class

Average
Environmental
Class

Extra average
Environmental
Class

35

25

25

10

10

10

C+F+M (%)
(C: cement; F: fly ash; M: micro silica)
Sources: ConcreteMaterials, DS 481 1998 [in Danish]
4.2.2. Energy consumption during cement and concrete production
It is also possible to reduce the environmental impact of concrete by reducing the
environmental impact of cement and concrete production. As regards concrete
production, experience with the reduction of primarily water consumption, energy
consumption and waste production is available. Even though the contribution of concrete
production to the environmental profile of concrete is minor, it does contribute, and is
important environmentally and economically to the single concrete producer. By
selecting a cement type with reduced environmental impacts and by minimising the
amount of cement the concretes 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. Denmarks cement manufacturer, Aalborg
Portland, prioritises development of cements with reduced environmental impacts.
4.3. Evaluation of inorganic wastes
The materials, which have been judged as useable for concrete production and selected
for further development, are shown in Figure 1. The judgement was based on an
evaluation concerning both concrete technology and environmental aspects. Inorganic
residual products from the concrete industry (e.g. stone dust and concrete slurry) and
products which pose a huge waste problem to society and which are in political focus
(e.g. combustion ash from water-purifying plants, smoke waste from waste combustion
and fly ash from sugar production) have been given highest priority.
Stone dust. Stone dust is a residual product from the crushing of aggregates. It is an inert
material with a particle size between that of cement and sand particles. Stone dust is
expected to substitute part of the sand.
Concrete slurry. Concrete slurry is a residual product from concrete production, i.e.
washing mixers and other equipment. The concrete slurry is can be either a dry or wet
substance, and can be recycled either as a dry powder or with water. In the case of
recycling of the dry material, it is necessary to process it to powder. The concrete slurry
can have some pozzolanic effect, and might therefore be used as a substitute for part of
the cement or for other types of pozzolanic materials such as fly ash
Combustion ash from water-purifying plants. This type of combustion ash has the
same particle size and shape as fly ash particles. The content of heavy metals in the slurry
is expected to be approximately at the same level as for fly ash. The slurry can also have
some pozzolanic effect.
Smoke waste from waste combustion. This smoke waste can have some pozzolanic
effect. The content of heavy metals is significantly higher than that of ordinary fly ash.
Furthermore, the content of chlorides, fluorides and sulphates can result in negative

effects in connection with reinforcement corrosion, retardation and possible thaumasite

reactions. Further processing will be necessary before its use in concrete.
4.4. Different ways to produce Green concrete
1. To increase the use of conventional residual products:
To minimise the clinker content, i.e. by replacing cement with fly ash, micro silica in
larger amounts than are allowed today
2. By developing new green cements and binding materials, i.e. by increasing the use of
alternative raw materials and alternative fuels, and by developing/improving cement with
low energy consumption
3. Concrete with inorganic residual products :(stone dust, crushed concrete as aggregate
in quantities and for areas that are not allowed today) and cement stabilised foundation
with waste incinerator slag, low quality fly ash or other inorganic residual products.
Firstly, an information-screening of potential inorganic residual products is carried out.
The products are described by origin, amounts, particle size and geometry, chemical
composition and possible environmental impacts.
A pictorial representation of the methods is shown as below,

5. RESULTS OF STUDIES BASED ON REPORTED LITERATURE

5.1. Green Concrete containing Marble sludge powder and Quarry rock dust

(Hameed, 2009)
In 2009, M. Shahul Hameed and A. S. S. Sekar, conducted a study on green concrete
replacing the conventional materials, except cement, with marble sludge powder and
quarry rock dust
5.1.1. Characterisation of waste
The physical characteristics of the waste are furnished in Table-3. The fineness modulus
of marble sludge powder and quarry rock dust is comparable to that of fine sand of 2.2 to
2.6. The coefficient of uniformity for fine sand is generally should be less than 6.
Similarly the coefficient of gradation should be between 1 and 3 for fine sand.

5.1.2. Raw materials

Cement: Ordinary Portland Cement (43 Grade) with 28 percent normal consistency with specific
surface 3300 cm 2 /g conforming to IS: 8112-1989 was used.
Marble Sludge Powder: Marble sludge powder was obtained in wet form directly taken from
deposits of marble factories. It was observed that the marble sludge powder had a high specific
surface area; this could mean that is addition should confer more cohesiveness to mortars and
concrete. Specific gravity of the marble sludge powder is 2.212.

Quarry rock dust: The specific gravity of the quarry rock dust is 2.677. Moisture content and
bulk density of waste are less than the sand properties.
Fine aggregate: Medium size sand with a modulus of fineness = 2.20; Specific gravity 2.677,
normal grading with the silt content 0.8%.
Coarse aggregate: Crushed stone with a size of 5-20 mm and normal continuous
grading was used. The content of flaky and elongated particles is <3%, the crushing
index 6% and the specific gravity 2.738.
Water: The qualities of water samples are uniform and potable
Super plasticizer: A superplasticizer based on refined lingo Sulphonates, Roff Superplast 320
was used to get and preserve the designed workability.
5.1.3. Mix proportion of concrete:
For durability studies the Indian standard mix proportion (by weight) use in the mixes of
conventional concrete and green concrete were fixed as (Cement: River sand/marble sludge +
stone dust: coarse agg) 1:1.81:2.04, 1:1.73:2.04 after several trials. Based on properties of raw
materials, two different mix proportions were taken. 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 8.616
6.112 4.351 3.106 2.218 1.597 1.184 0.845 0.604 0.176 % of finer Particle Size X10-3 mm Mix
A is the controlled concrete using river sand and Mix B is the green concrete using industrial
waste (50% quarry rock dust and 50% marble sludge powder) as fine aggregate. The

water/cement ratio for both two mixes was 0.55% by weight. Water reducing admixture was used
to improve the workability and its dose was fixed as 250 ml/50kg of cement.
5.1.4. Results and Discussion
Workability:

Compressive and Split tensile strength:

The 150 mm size concrete cubes, concrete cylinder of size 150 mm diameter and 300 mm height
were used as test specimens to determine the compressive strength and split tensile strength
respectively. The results of standard cubes and cylinders are compiled:

Durability and Resistance to Sulphate attack

The resistance to sulphate attack was studied by storage of standard prism specimens
were immersed in standard condition for 28 and 90 days and 150 days in testing baths
(containing 7.5 percent MgSO4 and 7.5 percent Na2SO4 by weight of water). From the
above table it can be deduced that the durability of Green concrete under sulphate is
higher to that of conventional concrete. This is due to that the active SiO2 in marble
powder and quarry rock dust can react with the Ca (OH)2 in concrete to form secondary
calcium silicate hydrate and make it chemically stable and structurally dense, the
impermeability of concrete is enhanced as well. In addition, the marble powder can
reduce the content of calcium aluminates in cementitious material, leading to increase of
sulphate resistance of concrete.
5.1.5. Conclusions
All the experimental data shows that the addition of the industrial wastes improves the
physical and mechanical properties. These results are of great importance because this
kind of innovative concrete requires large amounts of fine particles. Due to its high
fineness of the marble sludge powder it provided to be very effective in assuring very
good cohesiveness of concrete. From the above study, it is concluded that the quarry rock
dust and marble sludge powder may be used as a replacement material for fine aggregate.
The chemical compositions of quarry rock dust and marble sludge powder are
comparable with that of cement.
The replacement of fine aggregate with 50% marble sludge powder and 50%
Quarry rock dust (Green concrete) gives an excellent result in strength aspect and
quality aspect. The results showed that the M4 mix induced higher compressive
strength, higher splitting tensile strength. Increase the marble sludge powder
content by more than 50% improves the workability but affects the compressive
and split tensile strength of concrete.
Green concrete induced higher workability and it satisfy the self compacting
concrete performance which is the slump flow is 657mm without affecting the
strength of concrete. Slump flow increases with the increase of marble sludge
powder content. V-funnel time decreases with the increase of marble sludge
powder content
Test results show that these industrial wastes are capable of improving hardened
concrete performance.
Green concrete enhancing fresh concrete behaviour and can be used in
architectural concrete mixtures containing white cement.
The water absorption of green concrete is slightly higher than conventional
concrete.
The durability of green concrete under sulphate is higher to that of conventional
concrete. From the results after 90-day immersion, the mortar specimens with
green concrete in 7.5% sulphate solution have similar effect with those immersed

for 28 days, but for those in 7.5% magnesium sulphate, the influence of addition
on anti corrosion factor is not obvious.
The combined use of quarry rock dust and marble sludge powder exhibited excellent
performance due to efficient micro filling ability and pozzolanic activity. Therefore, the
results of this study provide a strong recommendation for the use of quarry rock dust and
marble sludge powder as fine aggregate in concrete manufacturing.
5.2. Behaviour of different mixes to different environmental classes
In another study to analyse the behaviour of different compositions in various
environmental classes was conducted at The Danish Centre for Resource Saving Concrete
Structures. In this test several different mixes were prepared and exposed to different
environmental conditions. The control parameters for the mixes were a slump of
approximately 100 mm and, for the aggressive environment, an air content of 5.5%. The
different green concrete mixes and their respective environmental conditions are
tabulated as below:

Tables 7 and 8 show concrete mixes tested with high-volume fly ash for the passive and
aggressive environmental classes. In the passive environmental class the fly ash content
was increased from 24 to 70%, resulting in a reduction of CO2 emission from 18 to 57%.
In the aggressive environmental class the fly ash content was increased from 9 to 40%

resulting in a reduction of CO2 emission from 33 to 54%. AV5 is a modified version of

AV4 with increased air content.
Strength development is shown in Figures 4 and 5. The figures show that PV4, which
has a fly ash content of 70%, has strength that is far too low: it appears that the fly ash
content must not exceed approximately 60%. Even so, the strength development is still
too slow. As regards the concrete in the aggressive environmental class, the strength
development is similar for all concrete types. However, preliminary testing indicates that
the high-volume fly ash concrete might have problems with frost resistance.

Passive: Dry atmosphere with no risk of corrosion

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.

5.3. Comparison between Conventional and Green Concrete

After enough development of Green concrete, the question arose about its relevance
before conventional concrete. Lesser environmental impact was one thing but other
properties like durability and resistance to fire etcetera were suspected and under heavy
scrutiny. Several tests thus carried out clearly showed that green concrete was not a bad
bargain indeed.
An environmental screening has been performed for a column presenting the different
design principles as described in Table 7 (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 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

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.

6. LIMITATIONS OF GREEN CONCRETE

Although green concrete seems very promising when it comes to an environment friendly
sustainable development, the cardinal concern is its durability. Refutations are being

constantly raised regarding the service life of structures made with green concrete.
Further the split tension of green concrete has been found much less than that of
conventional concrete. Another challenge before green concrete is that of a market. Until
the properties of green concrete are at par with the conventional concrete, green concrete
is unlikely to find many customers.
Several researchers have argued that green concrete can be made durable by using
stainless steel reinforcements, but the predicament is that by using stainless steel concrete
the cost of the construction increases considerably. Even after this, green concrete is not
as durable as the conventional concrete.
The limitations of using green concrete can be summarised as below:
a) By using stainless steel, cost of reinforcement increases.
b) Structures constructed with green concrete have comparatively less life than
structures with conventional concrete.
c) Split tension of green concrete is less than that of conventional concrete.
d) Not as durable as conventional concrete.
Given these limitations coupled with the urgent need of reduction in green house gas
emissions, has sparked off a number of researches across the globe to make green
concrete more durable and bring it up to the mark with conventional concrete.
7. SCOPE IN INDIA
Green concrete is a revolutionary topic in the history of concrete industry. Concrete is an
indispensible entity for a developing country like India which desperately needs a
continuously expanding infrastructure. India is the second largest producer of cement in
the world. Further India would be facing an exponential growth in the concrete demand
by 2011 (Schumacher, 1999).
Table 13 Projected Cement Demand
Cement Demand (Mt/annum)
Year

GDPtotal

GDPindustry

GDPconstruction

GDPaverage

2001

103.0

107.6

106.2

105.6

2006

139.5

148.7

150.8

146.3

2011

186.9

204.2

210.4

200.5

Being produced in voluminous quantities in India, the concrete industry has a

considerable part in the net CO2 emissions from the country. The net CO2 emissions
from the construction agency are greater than any other industry.

In order to act in a responsible manner towards a sustainable development of the nation, Green
concrete is the need of the hour. India being a developing country produces concrete in
gargantuan quantities which result in huge volumes of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere
each year. The total energy consumption (a rough estimate of the net CO2 emissions) during the
manufacture of cement in India is tabulated as below:

Table 14 Fuel Consumption in the Indian Cement Industry 1991-1993

Fuel
Electricity
Coal
Petroleum
Products
Total Cement
Production

Units
GWh
Mt
Mt

1991-92
4800.52
10.8
0.293

1992-93
6420.97
11.7
0.296

1993-94
6754.60
11.1
0.291

Mt

53.6

54.1

58.0
Source: TERI (1996)

The above statistics, though old, can be used as a guideline since the technological advancements
have been scarce. As not much has been done and not much can be done to reduce these
consumptions, the only alternative left is that of a green concrete, which will reduce the net CO2
emissions in the whole life cycle of concrete.
Thus we can deduce that, for a greener future, India needs to adopt Green concrete into practise
as soon as possible. The other advantageous factor is its economy. As green concrete is made
with concrete wastes and recycled aggregates, which are cheaper than conventional substitutes,
and also with most of the industries facing problems with their waste disposal, put it out of the
question to discard it.
Another type of green concrete, pervious concrete, is also a precious entity when it comes to
storm water management and rain water harvesting. Using pervious concrete we can easily tame
the run-off and harness it for future uses in relatively dry areas, which would have otherwise
drained away. With the alarmingly increasing cases of droughts each year pervious concrete
would prove to be a utilitarian tool. (Wikipedia)
The above facts clearly state a wide and promising scope of Green Concrete in the near future.

8. CONCLUSIONS
The overview of the present state of affairs regarding concrete types with reduced environmental
impact has shown that there is considerable knowledge and experience on the subject. The
Danish and European environmental policies have motivated the concrete industry to react, and
will probably also motivate further development of the production and use of concrete with
reduced environmental impact. The somewhat vague environmental requirements that exist have
resulted in a need for more specific technical requirements, and the most important goal is to
develop the technology necessary to produce and use resource saving concrete structures, i.e.
green concrete. This applies to structure design, specification, manufacturing, performance,
operation, and maintenance
In 1994 cement industry consumed 6.6 EJ of primary energy, corresponding with 2% of world
energy consumption. Worldwide 1126 Mt CO2 or 5% of the CO2 production originates from
cement production. The carbon intensity of cement making amounts to 0.81 kg CO2/kg cement.
In India, North America, and China the carbon intensity is about 10% higher than on average.
Specific carbon emissions range from 0.36 kg to 1.09 kg CO2/kg cement mainly depending on
type of process, clinker/cement ratio and fuel used.
The potential environmental benefit to society of being able to build with green concrete is huge.
It is realistic to assume that the technology can be developed, which can halve the CO2 emission
related to concrete production, and with the large energy consumption of concrete and the

following large emission of CO2 this will mean a potential reduction of total CO2 emission by
2% (Obla 2009).
Seventeen different energy efficiency improvement options are identified. The improvement
ranges from a small percentage to more than 25% per option, depending on the reference case
(i.e type of process, fuel used) and local situation. The use of waste instead of fossil fuel may
reduce CO2 emissions by 0.1 to 0.5 kg/kg cement (varying from 20 to 40%). An end-of-pipe
technology to reduce carbon emissions may be CO2 removal. Probably the main technique is
combustion under oxygen while recycling CO2 (Hendriks, 2004). However, considerably
research is required to all unknown aspects of this technique.
It is important to keep a holistic cradle to cradle perspective when it comes to the use of a
material. Based on a research Gajda et al. concluded that occupant energy use accounts for 99%
of life cycle energy use of a single family home. Less than 1% of the life cycle energy used in
that home was due to manufacturing cement and producing concrete. The global cement industry
accounts for approximately 5% of global CO2 emissions. So whatever way one looks at it
focusing on just the production of concrete accounts for a very small percent of overall CO2
emissions. This is not to say that progress should not be made in reducing the CO2 emissions
from concrete as produced. However one should keep in mind that whatever CO2 emission
reductions that are possible will still account for at best a 2% global CO2 reduction (assuming a
challenging 21% reduction in global CO2 emissions from cement manufacture from now on).

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