CO2 mitigation; New and existing structures; Steel; Grey energy; Cement; Building systems
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The objective of this joint project is to identify technical solutions that could be implemented in a medium term perspective on a mass scale in the construction sector in order to reduce the energy required to build and maintain our built environment.Very large efforts have already been made by the cement industry to reduce fossil energy consumption and its associated CO2 emissions, however, further cement reductions are now limited by the fact that cement in concrete act as the binder to provide mechanical strength as well as a protection against steel corrosion. A further reduction of clinker reduction is possible at the concrete level, but steel protection by the high pH imposed by cement will not be secured anymore.In the joint project, one research group (WP1) is working to better understand steel corrosion and secure the cement substitution up to 40% substitution which is a great interest for short term and immediate improvement. Other groups propose to tackle this problem by exploring what could be a reinforced concrete construction without steel reinforcement bars. They replace steel by other tensile resistant materials such as wood (WP2), pre-stressed carbon-fibre polymer (WP3) or synthetic fibres (WP4). Replacing steel suddenly opens new innovation at the cement and concrete level but more generally for the entire construction sector. Firstly, it allows, pushing cement substitution much higher than in current practice leading to substantial CO2 and energy reductions. In addition the steel consumption would be reduced which will provide very large saving in electricity consumption in addition to further CO2 savings. In Switzerland, steel is largely an imported product and therefore the energy used to produce the steel is not produced in Switzerland but still contributes to the overall energy needs from the country.As a consequence, the objective of the joint project is to tackle simultaneously the embodied energy coming from national sources such as the cement as well as the grey energy coming from abroad and embedded in the steel products. This latter grey energy represents a dependency towards external energy prices fluctuations and is therefore a crucial issue to tackle in a federal energy strategy for 2050.