WEBVTT - Building Materials of the Future: Bio Edition 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.160 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:15.159 Forward Thinking. Hey there, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:18.200 podcast that looks at the future and says we don't 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:23.079 need no education. I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm Lauren, and I'm 0:00:23.160 --> 0:00:26.680 Joe McCormick. It took me a minute to get that one. Well, 0:00:26.680 --> 0:00:31.000 it's because of the double negative that always trips me up. Yeah. Hi, 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:35.599 We're gonna talk today about something that's that's related to 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:37.800 topics we've addressed in the past. Right, We've talked about 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:41.800 innovations in architecture and previous episodes of Forward Thinking. Today 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:43.880 we're going to kind of get a little more granular. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.239 We're actually looking at the future of the materials we 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:52.280 use to build stuff, mostly annular like building. Was that 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:57.040 an aggregate pun? It could be, It wasn't intended to be. 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.840 But really, once you make a pun, either you intended 0:01:00.840 --> 0:01:03.400 it or not, it's kind of the world. You've unleashed 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.959 it upon the world, the world to do with what 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:08.119 they will. Yeah, but we really have. We've talked about 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.080 lots of futuristic methods of putting together buildings. We've talked 0:01:11.080 --> 0:01:14.600 about architecture, we've talked about three D printing of whole houses. 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:18.600 What else I mean, yes, the modular stuff that people 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:21.479 are exploring, you know, that the high quality, low environmental 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:25.920 impact pre fabrication that people are doing. Uh. And of course, 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:27.959 of course those techniques are going to help shape what 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.920 materials are used in the future. But let us talk 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:34.520 today about specifically those materials because material science is so 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.319 much fun. Let's get it down to a weird particulate level. 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:43.040 It's it's it's important too. When you think about it, 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.720 it's almost like everything is made out of materials. It's 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:52.120 almost like the universe is largely material in nature. Well, 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.200 just where you're living in a material world and you 0:01:56.240 --> 0:01:59.240 are a material girl, you know, and you've got to 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:01.560 live in a material house. So thinking about materials is 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:04.360 very important when it comes to how we build our cities, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.880 from the individual home to the skyscraper, especially to other 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:13.600 planet habitats. Oh sure, sure, but it's especially important to 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.960 think about all of that kind of stuff because the 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.160 things that we have been classically using throughout history to 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:23.959 construct our stuff is not sustainable, and it's especially going 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:27.560 to be less and less sustainable as the population and 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.000 especially the urban population grows. Yeah, so let's think about 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.320 some of the materials that we use most often to 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:38.079 build our building. So there's there's straw, there's sticks, right, 0:02:38.120 --> 0:02:41.760 and there's bricks that keeps the wolves held at least 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:44.720 one of them. But no, no, no, no, no, let's 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.880 think like that. We got wood, you got steel, you've 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.799 got concrete. Those are big glass, brick and mortar. These 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.799 are these are the old stand bys, the hits. Sure, yeah, 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:58.240 not everyone lives in the yard, right, But there are 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.200 ways that we could think of too not only improve 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.360 our methods of using these these greatest hits of the 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.120 building materials catalog, but also to branch out into totally 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:12.120 different areas of coming up with hard, sturdy stuff to 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:15.320 make the walls around us out of. But before we 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:17.080 do that, I think we should look at what the 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:19.640 motivation for this discussion would be. I mean, you might 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:21.679 be thinking, well, I don't know what the heck is 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.040 wrong with concrete. We already make stuff out of concrete. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:26.079 That seems fine. Why don't we just cover the whole 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:28.799 world in concrete? Yeah, why don't we make boats out 0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:31.799 of concrete? Okay? Well, that one I think we can 0:03:32.160 --> 0:03:35.280 we can more easily dismiss. But why don't we make 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:39.480 computers out of concrete? I'm just saying, you know, let's 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.240 let's talk about the problems the challenges we face relying 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.240 on a substance like concrete. Now, Now, first of all, 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:51.000 we have to admit concrete was an amazing technological achievement. Right. 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.800 Without concrete, the world would not be the way it is. Sure, 0:03:54.920 --> 0:03:59.040 and uh so, concrete is made by binding together aggregate 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.200 material with water and cement. It's pretty straightforward. And aggregate 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:07.280 material could literally be anything from crushed shells to small 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:11.640 rocks to say, gravel, sandy, whatever. And while so, the 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.080 real technology we're talking about here is cement, the idea 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.039 of cement, And and what you say is correct. Cement 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:20.200 is an amazing technology that has made much of human 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.760 civilization possible. But it does have its problems. Uh For 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:30.359 one thing, it is incredibly energy intensive to produce. According 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:35.200 to the US Energy Information Administration, as of July, the 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.280 cement industry was the single most energy hungry of all 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:44.559 manufacturing industries in the United States. Yeah, and and that 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.880 that energy that it's using is not really green energy particularly, No, 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.080 it tends to rely heavily on coal and on petroleum 0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:55.280 coke and coke that's not the soft drink, not the 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.320 stuff that is a refreshing way to taste the feeling 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:02.039 it is. However, the real thing it sort of is, Yeah, 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.160 it's a high carbon, low hydrogen petroleum residue. It's not 0:05:06.320 --> 0:05:09.360 especially refreshing. The way you make coke typically is that 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.760 you put essentially put coal in an oven and you 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:16.279 heat coal up to a very high temperature and you 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:18.560 end up with this almost kind of it looks very 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:22.760 spongy and porous substance that is coke. So it's really 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:29.240 ah another stage of coal. It is a fossil fuel, 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:33.440 which means it has all the trappings of other fossil fuels, 0:05:33.480 --> 0:05:37.360 including the fact that when you use it in combustion 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:39.240 or you use it in in in any kind of 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.680 firing capacity, you're releasing carbon. Right, And we'll talk about 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.440 that in just a minute. But back to the energy 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.000 consumption in According to that same e I A report, 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:51.640 the cement industry alone accounted for one quarter of one 0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.760 percent of all US energy consumption. So you might be 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:00.360 thinking one quarter one Yeah, that doesn't sound like all 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.039 that much really, but you would be wrong. This is 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:10.080 just one single industry against the background of all transportation, heating, grid, energy, cars, everything, 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.600 And when you think about it in that in those terms, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.719 that's huge. That's enormous, UH. And it represents, in the 0:06:16.760 --> 0:06:19.279 words of that e i A report quote, a share 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:23.480 of national energy used roughly ten times its share of 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:27.240 the nation's gross output of goods and services on average, 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:31.400 other energy intensive industry's share of energy uses roughly twice 0:06:31.440 --> 0:06:34.320 their share of gross output. So that that's comparing its 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:37.320 role in the economy to how much energy it consumes. 0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:41.280 So it's real inefficient. Yeah, you might say that. So 0:06:41.279 --> 0:06:43.680 So in other words, the value we get from the 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:49.320 production is uh does not necessarily justify the energy cost 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:54.480 of producing it uh compared to other types of products. Right, Well, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:56.320 I mean you might say it justifies it. In the 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:59.680 cement is just ubiquitous around the world. It's one of 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.120 the most to use products out there. In the e 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:06.599 i A also predicted that increasing energy use from the 0:07:06.640 --> 0:07:09.920 cement industry is going to continue into the future. It's 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.200 a growing trend. Yeah, I mean, as urbanization happens, as 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:15.680 we have talked about a lot, people like building urban 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:18.680 environments out of cement because it's dirty, and it's great. Yeah, 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.840 So why does cement use so much energy energy to produce? 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:23.480 What are what are they doing? Are they like do 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:27.960 they have to detonate a volcano every time? They every time? 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:31.960 It's like alternate Thursdays. Yeah, it's only for fun. Well 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:34.720 what is the process? So, so let's I'll get into 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.200 a little more detail with cement. So the most common 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:40.840 type of cement around the world is called Portland's cement. 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.280 So it enjoys coffee, beards and flannel. Why does it 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.560 require so much energy? Well, it's a chemical combination of 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:53.160 stuff like calcium silicon. Your just killing me with those 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:57.559 two thousand nine jokes. Look, I'm a product of my time, 0:07:57.840 --> 0:08:00.560 and that's you know, the dead jokes are gonna be 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:05.280 related back by. But yes, it's it's a chemical combination 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:09.480 of stuff like calcium, silicon, aluminum, iron, and some other stuff. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:13.880 Raw materials that are used to make cement include limestone, shells, 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:19.160 chalk and shale clay, slate, slag which is essentially runoff 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:24.080 from other manufacturing processes, uh, silica, sand, and iron ore. 0:08:24.880 --> 0:08:27.920 So you take all these different ingredients, uh, and you 0:08:28.080 --> 0:08:31.320 need to put them into a a furnace or a 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:37.079 kiln and subject them to incredibly high temperatures. Uh. The 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.320 people usually refer to this as like a heating and 0:08:39.360 --> 0:08:42.199 firing process, and not just for a few minutes, So 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:45.240 it's for a very long sustained period, and it often 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:49.760 requires multiple heating and firing uh sessions. So it's not 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:52.840 like you put the stuff in, you turn the temperature 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.520 up to you know, a thousand degrees, and you walk 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:57.560 off in twenty minutes later, Hey you got some ent. 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.760 That's not the way it works now. So because you 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.200 have to heat the stuff up to such a high temperature, 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:06.400 that's where a lot of this energy consumption is coming from. 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.599 That you have to get the temperature up to a 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.120 certain level and sustain it for a good long while. 0:09:11.280 --> 0:09:13.320 What's the point of heating it to such a high temperature? 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:17.360 What does it do? It turns this this collection of materials. Uh. 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:20.680 And again it's not like cement is going to contain 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:22.680 all of the things I listed, but it's going to 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:25.960 contain a collection of those things. It's gonna heat all 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:27.960 of that up and and it's going to end up 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:31.160 creating a substance that's sort of rock like. And this 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:35.120 is in fact cement but in order to make it usable, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.120 you have to grind that stuff down into powder. So 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:42.000 that requires more energy obviously to convert the rock into 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.680 the powder version. That's what you end up mixing with 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:48.080 the aggregate and water. Uh and uh. It becomes the 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.400 binding agents. So that's dry cement. If you were to 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.160 mix water with that, you would get wet cement. And 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.200 um uh. That is part of why it requires so 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.920 much energy. There's another component of energy. It isn't addressed 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.280 by this process, but it is in fact a very 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:05.800 important thing that we have to keep in mind and 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:08.400 something that that Joe you wrote about in the video 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.360 episode we did on this subject. That's the fact that 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:12.760 not only do you have to put in a lot 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:14.880 of energy to produce cement, but then you have to 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.000 use even more energy to get it to where it 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:21.000 needs to go. Right, So you're actually spending even more 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.559 energy to transport this finished product because you just made 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.679 powdered rocks. Those aren't light, right, I mean, I mean 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.200 even I mean it's lighter than than than wet rock. 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:36.000 By the by the subtraction of the they should shift 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:38.719 the cement wet. Well, it's my idea on top of 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.760 the fact that it's heavy cement trucks. I mean they 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:44.680 do that sometimes on top of the and you've got 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.520 to pour that cement out by a certain amount of 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.520 time or else it becomes dry in one of the 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.760 cement trucks, and that's a mess. But there's a MythBusters 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:57.080 episode blow up. Yeah, it was pretty impressive. But I 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:58.880 was gonna I was gonna add that not only is 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:02.640 it heavy, but your average construction project needs a crap 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.920 ton of the stuff. Right, So it is a non 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.880 trivial issue that not only does it take a lot 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:10.520 of energy to create this stuff, it takes a lot 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:12.600 of energy to get it to where it needs to be. Well, 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.560 let let's let us emphasize how non trivial this is. 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.400 So we mentioned earlier that there are carbon emissions. Exactly 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.400 how much do we know? Well, according to a group 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:27.040 of studies that was conducted through Columbia University CIRCA. Collectively, 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.200 this group of studies was called State of the Planet. 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:31.480 If you want to look it up, it's pretty fascinating. Um, 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:35.120 the cement industry is responsible for five per cent of 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:42.520 global carbon dioxide emissions. On one industry responsible for five Yeah, 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:44.120 and part of that part of the reason there is 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:46.760 that we are using so much cement. I mean, okay, 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:48.320 look like we've we said that. We said this like 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:50.160 kind of in passing, but to give to give you 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.600 a number. According to a report from two thousand nine 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:57.480 from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, concrete is 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:01.560 the second most consumed TiAl in the world every year, 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:04.600 after only water, and by consumed, I don't mean that 0:12:04.600 --> 0:12:07.839 we're all rock biters. I just mean that that we're 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:09.719 making a lot of it and we're putting a lot 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.680 of it. Tease. Well, this rock biter would like to 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:16.760 issue a little defense because I don't think that our 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.280 purpose today is to say, hey, we need to stop 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.440 using cement to make concrete to make our buildings. That 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:25.120 that's not exactly the point. But I would say that 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.920 if we can replace some portion of our share of 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:33.000 traditional cement and concrete with better, more sustainable materials that 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.599 create structures that are just too safe and get the 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.600 job done, that would be a very good thing. This 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:43.520 this fell core agrees with you. Rock biter isn't just 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:48.000 a fun insult. It's it's it's a reference to story alright, 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:51.720 So never ending story references aside and trust me, we 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:54.120 could do an entire podcast of them. What is the 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.120 future of never ending story references? Apparently it will go 0:12:57.160 --> 0:13:01.960 on forever based upon the title. Uh so at any rate, Well, 0:13:02.160 --> 0:13:08.600 let's let's talk about some ways to make concrete more sustainable, 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:12.520 or to make concrete last even longer, so it helps 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:16.120 justify the process of making it in the first place. Right, 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:19.160 So if we can either make better concrete where it 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.120 requires less energy to create, or we make concrete that 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.520 lasts longer, so therefore the investment we make is quote 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:31.080 unquote worth it. Uh that's the first step. So let 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:33.280 me talk about a few of those. So one thing 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:35.120 we can look at is are there ways to make 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:38.280 concrete itself better, right as opposed to going to a 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:41.280 complete alternative. Are there things that we can do that 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:46.080 either make concrete last longer so therefore the energy investment 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:47.960 that we make at the beginning pays off over a 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:51.520 longer amount of time, or that we can decrease the 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:55.880 the ecological impact of creating the concrete in the first place. 0:13:56.240 --> 0:13:58.320 So we started looking into some of this stuff. One 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:00.079 of the thing we wanted to talk about was the 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.720 ability to make stronger types of concrete so this idea 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:07.040 that it could last a longer time, we could hold 0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:10.520 a greater load. I read a lot of very cynical 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.200 UH forum posts from people who work in the concrete 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:17.480 business and talked about different alternatives to your standard approach 0:14:17.559 --> 0:14:21.360 to a concrete mix for stuff like roads or sidewalks, 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.440 And it almost always came into like a thing where 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:28.120 we said we would recommend using this particular type of 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.000 mixture because it would last a longer amount of time, 0:14:31.360 --> 0:14:33.840 and the response we would get back is, but we 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.120 need to have a job in ten years, so we 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:39.240 want to make sure we have to replace this. Yeah. 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.680 I don't know how serious they were being, but there 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:43.560 was that. I was seeing it pop up in multiple 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:45.920 forums as I was looking into this. By the way, 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:50.840 people who work with concrete they are a very funny 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:54.600 group that has an incredibly dry sense of humor. Anyway, 0:14:54.840 --> 0:15:00.240 concrete tends to be very very resistant to compression. Like 0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.800 it's good at standing up to compression, but not so 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.360 much with ten stile strength. In other words, when you're 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.880 pulling along UH concrete, it tends to tear apart unless 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.800 you mix it with something else. So one way to 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:15.240 make stronger concrete is to increase the amount of cement 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:18.120 you add. But we just talked about how cement is 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.240 an energy intensive material. Right to to create cement, but 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.400 if you if you want to make stronger concrete, you 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.480 could add more cement to your cement to aggregate ratio. 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.840 For example, some people might say, instead of making that 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.400 a four bag mix, make it a five bag mix. 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:36.720 In other words, adding an extra bag of cement for 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:40.200 the same volume of some of concrete. So adding more 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.400 cement is not necessarily the best choice, but you can 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:47.240 do other things, like you can create mixtures in the 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:50.600 concrete that increase its strength. For example, carbon fibers. We've 0:15:50.600 --> 0:15:53.760 talked about these. They're very lightweight, they have incredible strength. 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.560 They specifically will add ten stile strength to UH to 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.840 a material UH. If you do at with concrete, you 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.880 get what is called fibra rated concrete. It's a weird 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.520 word because it's not really a word, but that's what 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.360 they call it in the bizes And I guess. So 0:16:10.480 --> 0:16:13.440 they also have polymer concrete, so they're adding polymers. Those 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.800 are those long chain molecules. We've talked about, plastic being 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.480 the famous polymer um and they'll use polymers to either 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:25.160 offset or even completely replaced cement as the binding agent. 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:28.960 So you could have a concrete where polymers are the binder, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:34.320 not cement, and that is potentially better, But again it 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:36.640 depends on how you're producing the polymers. If it's all 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.560 petroleum based, you're really just again shifting some stuff over. 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:43.760 It may not be a net gain. Part of the 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:46.600 issue here is that if you can't make it an 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:52.160 an affordable alternative to the pre existing approach of concrete, 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:56.160 then from a financial standpoint, it's very hard to justify. Right. 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:58.280 If you're a company and you're looking to make a 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:02.880 profit out of building a project for a customer, then 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.159 one of the ways you can maximize your profits is 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.480 minimizing your costs. And while it might make more environmental 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.600 sense to go with a different material, it might make 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.840 less financial sense. And money makes the world go round. 0:17:16.000 --> 0:17:18.719 Not to get totally cynical, but and of course there 0:17:18.760 --> 0:17:22.720 are some some design firms out there who say, uh, look, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.320 we build that into our price. You're gonna be paying 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:27.959 a higher price, but you're also going to know that 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.600 you're you're building isn't going to have the same environmental 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.439 impact as the one across the street. And for some 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.199 people that's true, yes, and it might last longer. It's 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.040 a great point. So let's talk about greener concrete. Now. 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:41.919 One thing you need to know is if you do 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.040 a Google search for green concrete, one of the things 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.280 that pops up is the fact that green concrete doesn't 0:17:47.280 --> 0:17:52.399 necessarily mean eco friendly concrete because the American Concrete Institute 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:56.080 uses the term green concrete to mean concrete that is 0:17:56.160 --> 0:18:00.000 hardened or there's the set but not yet hardened. Essentially, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.240 it's like it's like when you're saying someone is green, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.880 you know, being meaning that they haven't become a seasoned 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:09.959 veteran or whatever in this yeah, exactly exactly, so not 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:13.000 fully ripe. That doesn't mean that there aren't folks trying 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.480 to make a more eco friendly concrete. There are plenty 0:18:15.600 --> 0:18:19.840 out there, and some companies offer alternatives to Portland's cement uh, 0:18:20.119 --> 0:18:23.800 creating their own type of cement using stuff like landfill waste, 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:28.520 which really the biggest one that I've seen is fly ash. Essentially, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.959 that's what's left after you've put stuff through an incinerator. 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:36.760 So if you incinerate uh garbage, then you end up 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.640 with this ash material. That stuff can actually be used 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.320 to create cement. So if you're going to be incinerating anyway, 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.280 not necessarily the best way to get rid of garbage. Again, 0:18:46.320 --> 0:18:48.560 we're shuffling things around a little bit, but you can 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.480 at least take that byproduct that's going to exist whether 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.680 you use it or not, and put it to use. Uh. 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:57.840 They're also mixtures that use fly ash that actually require 0:18:57.880 --> 0:19:01.480 less water than Portland's cement, So then you can have 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.920 some water conservation in there um and they can also 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.640 be more resilient, so there are some bonuses there. Then 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:13.880 we've got some other kind of cool but not necessarily uh, 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:20.240 environmentally beneficial versions of concrete, translucent concrete being one of them. 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.160 Have you guys ever seen translucent concrete? Now seen pictures 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:26.199 of it. All you have to do is go to 0:19:26.240 --> 0:19:29.199 Epcot and Walt Disney World. You will see translucent concrete 0:19:29.200 --> 0:19:32.280 if you stick around long enough. That might sound kind 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.840 of crazy. Translucent concrete. How could you see through it? 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:37.200 I mean, concrete seems like the very definition of opaque, 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.879 and from what I understand, the concrete itself remains opaque. 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:44.080 The issue is that it's embedded with fiber optic material. 0:19:44.320 --> 0:19:47.160 You put a ton of fiber optics, fiber optics inside 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.160 the concrete itself, which will allow light to transfer from 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:52.560 one side to the other. So it's kind of like 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.680 trans translucent concrete, but we're cheating a bit. It would 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.320 be like saying that your wall is translucent because you've 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:01.359 cut some whole in it and you can look through. 0:20:01.840 --> 0:20:04.360 But what they're doing is they're using these fiber optics. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.000 It allows light to transfer from insight to outside, and 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:12.280 it creates a much warmer environment than your classic cold concrete. 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.320 So imagine a building where you're getting some natural light 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.960 coming in. It's supplementing the light in the area. It's 0:20:19.040 --> 0:20:23.480 creating a warmer, more welcoming in uh a place than 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.240 you would if you just had cinder block walls. Yeah, 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:29.440 Like like the glow cloud, it just fills every environment 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:34.640 with a sense of peace, all hail. So I mentioned 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:36.560 that you can see these at EPCOT. At Epcut, they 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:41.920 have sidewalks that have uh these translucent concrete uh pant 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.080 paving stones essentially, and they've got l e ed s 0:20:45.200 --> 0:20:50.000 underneath that can shine through. Kids go nuts because at 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.280 night you start seeing these patterns and they can have 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.280 all these different shimmering lights that lights change color, so 0:20:55.440 --> 0:20:59.600 it becomes this kind of interactive sidewalk. Not that it's 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:02.080 not really interactive, because it's all working on like a 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:06.760 pre programmed um uh pattern, but it's certainly more interactive 0:21:06.800 --> 0:21:10.479 than a brick of concrete. Yeah, so kids love it. 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:12.080 I loved it. The first time I saw it. I 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:14.360 looked at thought, how did they do that? And then 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:17.639 I realized it's got to be fiber optic. Uh. And 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:19.800 then you came to understand and all the magic was 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:22.159 lost and yes, and then I saw, you know, I 0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:25.480 saw the the young lady playing Mickey Mouse with the 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.600 head off in the back parking lot, and it just 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:30.640 all fell apart from me. No, actually, people, Mickey Mouse 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:33.240 is real. Forget I said anything in two thousand and four. 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:38.680 This was actually, um supposedly invented. I say supposedly invented 0:21:38.680 --> 0:21:40.479 in two thousand and four, not that it wasn't invented, 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:42.960 but that we're not entirely sure this is actually the 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:46.760 origin of translucent concrete. But there was a Hungarian architecture. 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:49.960 There is an Hungarian architect by the name of Aaron Lass. 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:54.119 And I know I'm brutalizing that last name because I 0:21:54.160 --> 0:21:57.000 don't speak Hungarian, but at any rate, uh, that was 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.520 the first person credited for creating this kind of concrete. 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.240 Beyond that, we've talked about this before, a self repairing 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:08.760 concrete or self healing concrete. UM. We mentioned that in 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:12.960 our December two episode about indestructible materials. We were wondering 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:16.800 if that was ever possible to truly create an indestructible material, 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:20.200 and we kind of discussed the fact that you're more 0:22:20.320 --> 0:22:23.760 likely to build stuff that can repair itself somewhat after 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:27.600 we've damaged. UM. So, this kind of concrete typically has 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:29.760 one of two things in it, either some form of 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:33.640 polymer inside of it or some type of bacteria inside 0:22:33.640 --> 0:22:37.719 of it. In both cases, the that material is activated 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.119 when it contacts water. So you've got some concrete a 0:22:41.200 --> 0:22:43.800 crack forms, Water is going to find its way in 0:22:43.840 --> 0:22:47.880