Papercreters: [papercreters] Re: 26lbs of CO2 per bag of Portland

Picture a papercrete builder that uses the worst source of cement,
trucked half way across the country, and uses very cement rich
mixes. Is this the worst possible scenario for Carbon Dioxide in
papercrete construction?

As long as that worst case builder builds a very energy efficient
house, the TOTAL CO2 emmisions associated with that house over its
life span will be minimal.

Compare it to the horribly energy wasteful houses that are usually
built. There are often megatons of carbon dioxide that are emitted
to create the excess energy required to heat and cool standard homes.

Why quibble over a few extra pounds or even a few thousand pounds of
carbon dioxide compared to that?

Keep perspective.

--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "clydetcurry" <clyde@...> wrote:
>
> I aggree with every thing you said - What we have been able to do ,
so
> far is to extend the portland 20% replacement by weight with
> metakaolin high reactivity pozzalon and then extend that mix by 600%
> with perlite aggregate- its cheap,dimensionally stable,eco freindly
> and fire resistant- and yes sir we still have a long way to go -
> apparently magnesium can be extracted from sea water, the problem
> seems to be that phosphate is the likely element to combine it with-
--
> In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "mountainfair" <yahooposting@>
wrote:
> >
> > I believe that the difference is that the CO2 that we exhale was
taken
> > out of the atmosphere recently, and does not affect the carbon
> > balance, while the CO2 from fossil fuels has been in the ground
for
> > millions of years and does affect the atmospheric balance of
carbon
> > when released.
> >
> > Also, just as the straw bales and other materials may have been
> > trucked in from out of state, the portland cement you are using
was
> > probably trucked in from fairly far away as well.
> >
> > There are some other factors stacked against portland cement -
there
> > are currently large debates here in CO over concrete plants that
are
> > burning tires in their kilns and releasing dioxins and other nasty
> > stuff that neighboring communities are not happy about.
> >
> > In some areas of the world the limestone used for making cement is
> > stripmined, displacing native people and destroying large amounts
of
> > wildlife habitat. The same could be said for a lot of the coal
that
> > is used as well, as well as drying up aquifers to transport the
coal
> > in slurry form.
> >
> > With adobe and rammed earth, you would also have to ask what is
the
> > footprint of running fossil fuel machinery to excavate, sift and
mix
> > the dirt and hydraulically compress the earth. Unless, of course,
> > they are running the machinery on biodiesel.
> >
> > Apparently there are emerging alternatives:
> >
> > Carbon neutral concrete:
> >
> > http://www.ecocem.ie/
> >
> > and
> >
> > • ecocement – magnesium based replacement for ordinary (portland)
> > cement which soaks up (sequesters) carbon dioxide as it cures. A
sharp
> > contrast to portland cement. Experts predict it will take 10
years for
> > this to be a feature in the market place. We aim to help this
> > innovation get over the market inertia and shrink this time frame.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "clydetcurry" <clyde@> wrote:
> > >
> > > in other words- if we sit around debating for a year over the
fact we
> > > will exhale more CO2 than building our house would have
produced-
> > > amazing- boy am I glad you folks have gotten around to this -
Clyde T.
> > > Curry--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, Greg House
<ghunicycle@>
> > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > My father worked in the cement and lime production industries
most
> > > of his life. From what I've seen from his work, most cement
kilns are
> > > fired with coal.
> > > >
> > > > Greg
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message ----
> > > > From: Mikey Sklar <sklarm-yahoo@>
> > > > To: "papercreters@yahoogroups.com"
<papercreters@yahoogroups.com>
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, August 8, 2007 10:32:47 AM
> > > > Subject: Re: [papercreters] Re: 26lbs of CO2 per bag of
Portland
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > When Portland cement is being made from limestone,
> > > natural gas or
> > > >
> > > > propane is used to heat the limestone. White portland would
have a
> > > >
> > > > even higher CO2 footprint as it is cooked longer.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On Aug 8, 2007, at 9:21 AM, "slurryguy" <slurryguy@yahoo. com>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Does clinker outgas CO2 as it is getting fired? How much?
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > > I'm not disagreeing with your overall point. I actually
agree.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > > --- In papercreters@ yahoogroups. com, Mikey Sklar
> > <sklarm-yahoo@ ...>
> > > >
> > > > > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> I have been tormented by a few local adobe and straw bale
> builders
> > > >
> > > > >> for my use of Portland cement. They point out to me that
by using
> > > >
> > > > >> a high energy product that I am destructive to the
environment. I
> > > >
> > > > >> had my doubts and decided to run some numbers this evening
about
> > > >
> > > > >> just how much CO2 was being produced to create a bag of
portland.
> > > >
> > > > >> The answer I came to was less than 26lbs of CO2 per 94lb
bag of
> > > >
> > > > >> portland. I suppose I can now point out to the so called
green
> > > >
> > > > >> builders who are hauling straw bales or pre made adobes
from
> across
> > > >
> > > > >> state boarders that their CO2 footprint is orders of
magnitude
> > > >
> > > > > larger
> > > >
> > > > >> than my own.
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> - portland cement 4,700,000 million btu per ton
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> - convert btu's per ton to one bag of Portland (94lbs)
> > > >
> > > > >> * 1 ton 2000lbs
> > > >
> > > > >> * 2000 / 94 = 21.28
> > > >
> > > > >> * 4700000 / 21.28
> > > >
> > > > >> * 22,0864.66 btu's per bag
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> - convert btu's of natural gas to pounds of CO2
> > > >
> > > > >> * 1 million BTUs (NG) will produce 117.08 pounds of CO2
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> - convert btu's per ton of portland to pounds of CO2
> > > >
> > > > >> * 4,700,000 / 1,000,000 = 4.7
> > > >
> > > > >> * 4.7 * 117.08
> > > >
> > > > >> * 550.276 lbs of CO2 per ton of Portland made from
Natural Gas
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> - convert lbs of CO2 per ton of Portland to bag of Portland
> > > >
> > > > >> * 550.276 / 21.28
> > > >
> > > > >> * 25.86 lbs of CO2 per bag of Portland
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> When we consider that jet fuel, diesel, and car fuel all
produce
> > > >
> > > > >> about 20 lbs of CO2 per gallon we can see that a bag of
Portland
> > > >
> > > > >> is producing the same amount of CO2 as driving 20 miles in
your
> > > >
> > > > >> truck.
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> If you want to bring yourself to neutral on CO2 for your
Portland
> > > >
> > > > >> usage. Consider that the average tree will absorb 26lbs of
> CO2 per
> > > >
> > > > >> year.
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >> Keep in mind that we humans on average exhale over 2lbs of
> CO2 per
> > > >
> > > > >> day.
> > > >
> > > > >>
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > 
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
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> > >
> >
>

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

[papercreters] Re: 26lbs of CO2 per bag of Portland

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