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Summary Great potential for building materials

Core messages

Introduction Concrete – a demanding building material

Concrete binds a great deal of grey energy – and is also an important factor in terms of CO2 emissions. While the operation of buildings is being steadily optimised with regard to energy consumption and pollutant emissions, there is still considerable potential with respect to the construction, renovation and demolition of concrete structures. Current research results show how this can be exploited.

Challenges Material properties of the concrete

Building materials bind a great deal of grey energy and are responsible for a large proportion of CO2 emissions. Too little attention has been paid to this fact so far. However, the negative effects can be drastically reduced.

Challenges Concrete structures without steel

The production and transportation of reinforcing and prestressing steel for concrete structures require a lot of energy. However, there are innovative ways for building concrete structures without steel.

Challenges Optimal preservation strategy

If concrete structures are used for longer, their average grey energy and CO2 emissions per year are reduced. This requires special processes and building materials.

Need for action

Recommendations Building owners are called on to take action

All information provided on these pages corresponds to the status of knowledge as of 03.02.2020. Publication details