…but you have to live in the Netherlands to be able to enjoy the clean air.

Back in June, I mentioned the self-cleaning cement that was used in Rome. Now it appears that the the Dutch town of Hengelo is debating about paving their roads with it. The new type of air purifying cement developed by the University of Twente is already being used on half of a road under construction. Before creating the whole road with it, they will just do the first half and then wait a year. Testing will be performed to see if there is any change in the air quality. They will then decide whether to continue paving the rest of the town.

Here’s to hoping that it makes a world of difference. With all the infrastructure improvements over here, it would be wonderful to incorporate this technology to help out with the environment.

Retrieved from -Engadget-

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…based on this chart released by The Oil Drum, it definitely appears that they aren’t helping.

Just because I’m lazy, I’m going to quote from the original site…

Cement is mainly used to make concrete, and is sort of the “active ingredient” in concrete – it is combined with sand and gravel in roughly fixed proportions. So cement production can be considered a rough proxy for the total amount of construction going on in a country.

Lately in the construction industry, we have been finding costs of raw materials to almost double what they used to be. Steel used to be about $1.00/lb for construction needs…now it is up to $2.00/lb. Concrete used to be about $350/cy…now if we can find it for $600/cy, we’ll consider it a deal! This has wreaked havoc with local projects that have supposedly gone over the budget set aside a couple years back, and mainly it’s because of the rising costs that no one could have predicted.

The rumors I have heard is that China is behind the raw material “crisis”. They have hit a huge boom in construction, and probably in no small amount due to the Olympics going to be held in Beijing. The city is being revamped, new skyscrapers are being built, world record breaking bridges are being built, you name it. A lot of this material they are using is purchased scrap from other countries, normally what we (USA) rely on to make our own. Hence, the rise in costs…

But, I can’t fully fault the Chinese. They were low bidder on the scrap, more power to them for using it. Maybe everyone else should have thought about it when they first saw the signs. All I know is at some point in my life I want to travel to China to see all of these wondrous buildings and bridges that are currently in the works!

And by the way, tree huggers will not forget to tell you that producing this much cement is not healthy for the environment. A lot of energy is needed to produce cement, so this huge spike in production can only mean a lot more of coal consumed.

Retrieved from -The Oil Drum-

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…at least if people pay to have it treated.

While attending a professional development seminar at work, the presenter briefly mentioned something that caught my attention…self-cleaning cement. Now, when I first heard of this, I thought it was some sort of weird fantasy material that when the concrete became dirty with paint or dirt, it would clean itself, similar to how the technology worked in the movie Demolition Man. Well, after looking it up a bit, I found that I was completely wrong.

To quote from Concrete Monthly,

A new type of concrete can clear the air by dissolving pollutants. Using light and air, photocatalytic concrete breaks down organic and inorganic substances responsible for air pollution. The technology is already in use for self-cleaning windows and ceramic tile. The cement is treated with titanium dioxide, which reacts with ultraviolet light to decompose pollutants such as smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

Italian cement-maker Italcementi Group, parent of PCA member ESSROC, is marketing photocatalytic cement under its TX Millennium brand. In addition to pollution abatement, photocatalytic white cement keeps architectural concrete clean and white.

So, the last part proves I wasn’t completely wrong, the coating on the outside does help it to stay clean and white, but the most amazing thing is that it can remove particles that cause smog. What would a city wide application of this do to Los Angeles?

Another article I read on Smart Economy, had some more information to impart.

In a 2003 field test in 2003, 75,000 square feet of road surface on the outskirts of Milan, Italy, were covered with this smart cement. Researchers found nitrogen oxide levels were reduced by up to 60 percent, depending on weather conditions. The European Union last year earmarked $2.27 billion for a project to develop “smart” construction materials that would break down nitrogen oxides and other toxic substances, such as benzene.

The picture above shows the Misericordia Church in Rome that was treated with the self-cleaning cement. I would agree that is a nice beautiful white color, but as far as the mainstream goes, I would say it is definitely “green”.

Product info -Italcementi Group-

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