Construction materials such as concrete and plastic have the potential to lock away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study by civil engineers and earth systems scientists at the University of California, Davis and Stanford University.
Construction materials such as concrete and plastic have the potential to lock away billions of tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study by civil engineers and earth systems scientists at the University of California, Davis and Stanford University. The study, published Jan. 10 in Science, shows that combined with steps to decarbonize the economy, storing CO2 in buildings could help the world achieve goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“The potential is pretty large,” said Elisabeth Van Roijen, who led the study as a graduate student at UC Davis.
The goal of carbon sequestration is to take carbon dioxide, either from where it is being produced or from the atmosphere, convert it into a stable form and store it away from the atmosphere where it cannot contribute to climate change. Proposed schemes have involved, for example, injecting carbon underground or storing it in the deep ocean. These approaches pose both practical challenges and environmental risks.
“What if, instead, we can leverage materials that we already produce in large quantities to store carbon?” Van Roijen said.
Read more at University of California - Davis
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