When Agricultural Waste Transforms into an Environmentally Friendly Material: The Case of Green Concrete as Alternative to Natural Resources Depletion

• Published in: Journal of agricultural & environmental ethics 2019-02, Vol.32 (1), p.77-93
• Main Authors: Grădinaru, Cătălina Mihaela, Şerbănoiu, Adrian Alexandru, Babor, Danut Traian, Sârbu, Gabriel Constantin, Petrescu-Mag, Ioan Valentin, Grădinaru, Andrei Cristian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additives; Aggregates; Agricultural Economics; Agricultural wastes; Air entrainment; Alternative energy sources; Building materials; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Cement; Concrete; Construction industry; Construction materials; Depletion; Education; Emissions; Energy consumption; Environmental ethics; Environmental protection; Ethics; Evolutionary Biology; Farm buildings; Fly ash; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Mechanical properties; Natural resources; Philosophy; Plant Sciences; Raw materials; Resource depletion; Silica; Silica fume; Silicon dioxide; Sodium; Sodium silicates; Sustainable development; Sustainable materials; Theory of Medicine/Bioethics
• ISSN: 1187-7863; 1573-322X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10806-019-09768-1

In an increasingly urbanized world, construction industry is called upon to serve the needs of human society, such as environmental protection and safety in terms of infrastructure. In this context, a sustainable and ethical development means a close connection between buildings and environment. This connection can be achieved through, for example, the concept of ecological concrete or green concrete, as it is often called. The conventional process of obtaining cement and mineral aggregates from the concrete composition generates pollution, especially through greenhouse gas emissions. Also, one should not ignore the fact that extraction of the raw materials affects the habitats of the sites and of the neighboring areas. When construction materials are questioned, the ethical issues lay not in the means of expression, but mainly in the means of production. More to the point, the present contribution aimed to find solutions for enhancing the adhesion of vegetal aggregates with the cement matrix, in order to obtain a material with optimal mechanical properties, which is valued as an ethical approach of building industry. Results showed that plant aggregates can be used to obtain a building material which can be improved by using partial substitution of cement by silica fume, fly ash, or by using additives (sodium silicate and air entraining additive) and that green concrete as an environmentally friendly material offers the alternative for lower energy use and fewer CO 2 emissions. Marketers must understand not only the advantages of these green materials, but also that they have an ethical commitment to provide consumers with environmentally friendly materials.