GREEN CONSTRUCTION: Jobs for making cement, bricks, drywall, windows could return to the U.S.
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The construction industry consumes truckloads of basic materials, the manufacture of which consumes massive quantities of energy, producing prodigious emissions of greenhouse gases. If materials scientists and entrepreneurs can devise materials that can be fabricated with less energy, climate change could be slowed and many new manufacturing jobs could be created, fulfilling a much-anticipated promise of clean-tech innovation.
The U.S., which lost millions of manufacturing jobs in recent decades, is in a strong position to capitalize on greener construction materials if research and funding are focused soon, according to panelists who spoke Wednesday at the GoingGreen conference in Sausalito, Calif. "We have such terrific materials science in this country," said Marianne Wu, partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures. "But for years it's all been applied to infotech and biotech. We simply have not been looking at building materials. There is pent-up expertise that can create all sorts of innovations."
Many basic building products can be improved so significantly that everything is up for reinvention, said Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Materials. "We're beginning to make less energy-intensive cement," he noted, "but maybe we can make better bricks, too. My company's new drywall is the first real change in decades. Double-pane windows were invented in the 1800s. The world just has not cared about working on this."
The success of new cement from Calera Corp. shows how large gains can be. "The production of Portland cement globally creates two and a half billion tons of carbon dioxide annually," Calera CEO Brent Constantz said. Instead, new processes Calera is scaling up can actually sequester half a ton of the greenhouse gas for each ton of cement produced. And fresh water is created as a by-product. Furthermore, if the cement factories were installed next to coal-fired power plants, they could absorb the plants' carbon emissions as raw material.
Because the construction industry is so extensive, and because of the U.S.'s embedded materials expertise, Surace maintained that a transformation to cleaner technologies could bring basic manufacturing back to the country. "We can get back to making things, which was the foundation of American industry for a century," he said.
To make that transition happen, "we need to build new Silicon Valleys of construction materials entrepreneurs, and we need universities to develop programs that can churn out people with the right expertise," Surace said. Mohr Davidow's Wu noted that millions of jobs could realistically be created, adding: "These materials are big, and heavy, so it makes economic sense to manufacture them locally, instead of shipping them thousands of miles." She said that labor for this sort of manufacturing is low tech and therefore not expensive, making it harder for overseas competitors to undercut domestic producers. "A clean-tech building materials industry really could bring lots of jobs back to the U.S.," Wu said, "in many local regions."
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12 Comments
Add Comment"The U.S., which lost millions of manufacturing jobs in recent decades..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose jobs weren't "lost" - they were deliberately outsourced to countries with lower costs. Part of those lower costs include lower environmental standards.
Material science is the key to every new technology. Stronger, cheaper, lighter materials increase a products saftey as well as energy efficency. This is where the stimulus money should be going.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPersonally I think NASA should be leading the charge in Material Science from a recycle perspective. Imagine if you could recycle your dinnerware into a new patch for a wall. The imagine how that would be if earth were several months away. All of a sudden that dinner plate isn't such a nice to have anymore!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you could do that using just solar radiation and a meterial that could take on several different configurations, depending on the processing, you could solve a lot of the staying put issues that space colonization will present.
<snip>"She said that labor for this sort of manufacturing is low tech and therefore not expensive, making it harder for overseas competitors to undercut domestic producers."</snip>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat. Let's pat ourselves on the back. What's the point of kids studying math and science if their future includes an increased likelihood of them becoming one of the lowest-paid (or, "inexpensive") workers?
Wouldn't want those pesky overseas producers undercutting domestic firms. But wait ... couldn't we keep our own citizens' way of life somewhat, um, developed and NOT continue to drive down their purchasing power to beat the lowest wages in the world? Oh yeah, that would involve that other pesky idea ... tariffs. And we've all heard what that spells: "protectionism". I, for one, care enough about my whole country and her citizens - not just a small elite - to think protectionism is a good thing.
For decades, universities and labs have been creating lots of innovative construction materials and techniques only to have them pushed off into a corner because state and local governments (which are responsible for building codes) wouldn't accommodate the novel. The solutions we are looking for will be every bit as much about changing bureaucratic mindsets as they are about changing building technology.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor years public investment went to areas which private investors believed were great money makers. Money, much of which was lost in the recent recession/depression. Hopefully this government will invest in things which address atmospheric carbon buildup, and which are good for employment and the economy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYeah, material is the basis of the world, including constructions, vehicles, electric products and so forth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, people nowadays focus more on "new material", such as biomaterial and nanomaterial. Research on the structural material is ignored to a large extent, since it is too "traditional" and "old fashion". Actually, it's still significant to explore new structual material. For instance, steel, a structual material wildly used, is strong, but it's too heavy. If there is a lighter material with high strength, it will save any amount of expense of energy and money.
We have seen "cheap" wall board from China; contaminated with sulfur destroy new homes. Aluminum wiring, being "cheaper" catching fire. And "cheap" chipboard plywood that sags under its own weight and crumble in use.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisondigo is absolutely right. Until we can embrace and test these new technologies, we won't have a clue about just what might be cheaper. A lower retail price tag is not necessarily "cheaper."
silvrhairdevil is dead-on about lower environmental standards over seas. A General Motors Plant Manager told me that Mexico (yes, I know Mexico in *not exactly* overseas) is easier to work in because caustic chemicals can simply be dumped out back--on the ground. Lead-acid car batteries can put in a hole and covered over. Congrats! Mexico. You won the export war. How lucky you are.
Better materials a Good Thing! Well I never...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNext they'll be telling us that clean renewable energy, clean water and clean air are Good Things.
Enough of this backward-looking bleeding-heart socialism!
Thanks for the article.Your article was pretty informative and i hope that in future also i get these kind of article.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThanks,
Portable Storage,
www.moveablecubicle.com
the best materials are the classics, than with an intelligent use, they can become very modern, like for example the <a href="http://www.ilcasone.it/web/realizzazioni_scheda.php?valo=e_5_271">sandstone</a>
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHaiti has a lot of sunlight and has cut down all their trees. There is a tremendous amount of capital going into Haiti right now, more than their GNP.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf everything was built to utilize solar energy they would reap returns on this investment for the next 20 years. Use the destroyed buildings as raw materials, with rerod and some good concrete mix, of course with a hurricane resistant design profile. When they resurface roads out here they grind off the top 2-3 inches, add more asphalt and some ground up tires for pliability then lay it back down.
All sewage fed to local greenhouses for treatment, producing topsoil and fresh water from the waste. Replant tropical forests for green credits from first world countries.
Have Haiti become the travel destination for green and sustainable living and laboratories an inexpensive green tourist destination. What better marketing angle taking the basket case for the entire western hemisphere and turning it back into a garden of Eden.