The sponge effect and carbon emission mitigation potentials of the global cement cycle

Cao, Zhi; Myers, Rupert J.; Lupton, Richard C.; Duan, Huabo; Sacchi, Romain; Zhou, Nan; Miller, T. Reed; Cullen, Jonathan M.; Ge, Quansheng; Liu, Gang

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17583-w

Cited by 146 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…From the moment it is created, cement begins to absorb CO 2 from the atmosphere, a process known as "cement carbonation". We estimate this CO 2 sink as the average of two studies in the literature (Cao et al, 2020;Guo et al, 2020). Both studies use the same model, developed by Xi et al (2016), with different parameterizations and input data, with the estimate of Guo and colleagues being a revision of Xi et al (2016).…”

Section: Emissions Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Carbon Budget 2020

Friedlingstein

O’Sullivan

Jones

et al. 2020

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

1,818

1,063

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Abstract. Accurate assessment of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and their redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere in a changing climate – the “global carbon budget” – is important to better understand the global carbon cycle, support the development of climate policies, and project future climate change. Here we describe and synthesize data sets and methodology to quantify the five major components of the global carbon budget and their uncertainties. Fossil CO2 emissions (EFOS) are based on energy statistics and cement production data, while emissions from land-use change (ELUC), mainly deforestation, are based on land use and land-use change data and bookkeeping models. Atmospheric CO2 concentration is measured directly and its growth rate (GATM) is computed from the annual changes in concentration. The ocean CO2 sink (SOCEAN) and terrestrial CO2 sink (SLAND) are estimated with global process models constrained by observations. The resulting carbon budget imbalance (BIM), the difference between the estimated total emissions and the estimated changes in the atmosphere, ocean, and terrestrial biosphere, is a measure of imperfect data and understanding of the contemporary carbon cycle. All uncertainties are reported as ±1σ. For the last decade available (2010–2019), EFOS was 9.6 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.4 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when the cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.6 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1. For the same decade, GATM was 5.1 ± 0.02 GtC yr−1 (2.4 ± 0.01 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN 2.5 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND 3.4 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1, with a budget imbalance BIM of −0.1 GtC yr−1 indicating a near balance between estimated sources and sinks over the last decade. For the year 2019 alone, the growth in EFOS was only about 0.1 % with fossil emissions increasing to 9.9 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 excluding the cement carbonation sink (9.7 ± 0.5 GtC yr−1 when cement carbonation sink is included), and ELUC was 1.8 ± 0.7 GtC yr−1, for total anthropogenic CO2 emissions of 11.5 ± 0.9 GtC yr−1 (42.2 ± 3.3 GtCO2). Also for 2019, GATM was 5.4 ± 0.2 GtC yr−1 (2.5 ± 0.1 ppm yr−1), SOCEAN was 2.6 ± 0.6 GtC yr−1, and SLAND was 3.1 ± 1.2 GtC yr−1, with a BIM of 0.3 GtC. The global atmospheric CO2 concentration reached 409.85 ± 0.1 ppm averaged over 2019. Preliminary data for 2020, accounting for the COVID-19-induced changes in emissions, suggest a decrease in EFOS relative to 2019 of about −7 % (median estimate) based on individual estimates from four studies of −6 %, −7 %, −7 % (−3 % to −11 %), and −13 %. Overall, the mean and trend in the components of the global carbon budget are consistently estimated over the period 1959–2019, but discrepancies of up to 1 GtC yr−1 persist for the representation of semi-decadal variability in CO2 fluxes. Comparison of estimates from diverse approaches and observations shows (1) no consensus in the mean and trend in land-use change emissions over the last decade, (2) a persistent low agreement between the different methods on the magnitude of the land CO2 flux in the northern extra-tropics, and (3) an apparent discrepancy between the different methods for the ocean sink outside the tropics, particularly in the Southern Ocean. This living data update documents changes in the methods and data sets used in this new global carbon budget and the progress in understanding of the global carbon cycle compared with previous publications of this data set (Friedlingstein et al., 2019; Le Quéré et al., 2018b, a, 2016, 2015b, a, 2014, 2013). The data presented in this work are available at https://doi.org/10.18160/gcp-2020 (Friedlingstein et al., 2020).

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Section: Emissions Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Carbon Budget 2020

Friedlingstein

O’Sullivan

Jones

et al. 2020

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

1,818

1,063

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…There is a range of materials that can store C or CO 2 , including timber, concrete, bamboo, hemp, and straw. Concrete has traditionally been a source of CO 2 emissions due to its intensive production process, but can reabsorb significant amounts of carbon over its long service life (Cao et al, 2020). Recent advances in manufacturing-tailoring the curing process to absorb more C, or mineralizing the CO 2 from production in the flue for use as aggregate-provide opportunities for carbon utilization in the concrete industry beyond lifetime carbonation (Monkman and MacDonald, 2017;Habert et al, 2020).…”

Section: Carbon Utilizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Design of Mass Timber Panels as Heat-Exchangers (Dynamic Insulation)

Craig

Halepaska

Ferguson

et al. 2021

Front. Built Environ.

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Mass timber products, together with careful forestry management, could help decarbonize the construction industry. These products must be long-lasting, to safely store atmospheric carbon for decades or centuries, and multi-functional, to displace materials and equipment that are emissions-intensive. This paper shows how to optimize mass timber panels as heat-exchangers, suggesting how to eliminate insulation while simplifying HVAC systems. Test panels measured the heat-exchange in steady and transient conditions, when the ventilation was driven by a fan or by thermal buoyancy. The total heat transfer was predicted accurately by theory in all cases. Further investigation is needed to understand the possible heat-recovery effects at the exterior surface.

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“…For example, most buildings require cement for concrete foundation or structure and a complete decarbonization is not possible due to energy intensive processes for manufacturing and emissions related to calcination reaction 20,21 . New frontiers for carbon-neutral concrete solutions have been explored 22,23 , but cannot cope with the scale of construction boom due to future urbanization 24 and the pace of decarbonization required to stay within planetary boundaries 25 . A replacement of concrete by timber in construction is an interesting option as it simultaneously reduces the emissions coming from concrete production and allows to store carbon in the building stock.…”

Section: Existing Climate-neutral Strategies In the Built Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material diets for Climate-Neutral Buildings

Carcassi¹,

Habert²,

Malighetti³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The climate crisis is urging us to act fast. Buildings are a key leverage point to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but the embodied emissions related with their construction remain often the hidden challenge of any ambitious policy. Since a complete material substitution is not possible, we explore in this paper a material greenhouse gas (GHG) compensation where fast growing bio-based insulation materials are used to compensate building elements which necessarily release GHG. Different material diets as well as different building typologies are modelled to assess the consequences in term of bio-based insulation requirement to reach climate-neutrality. Our results show that it is possible to build climate-neutral buildings with sufficient energy performance to fulfil current standards and with building components thickness within the range of current construction practices. This paper evidences that it is technically feasible and that climate-neutrality in construction sector without a radical technology breakthrough.

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The sponge effect and carbon emission mitigation potentials of the global cement cycle

Cited by 146 publications

References 53 publications

Global Carbon Budget 2020

Global Carbon Budget 2020

The Design of Mass Timber Panels as Heat-Exchangers (Dynamic Insulation)

Material diets for Climate-Neutral Buildings

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